Friends Are Forever
by oceanmoon
Summary: Will something that started as friendship, and then went to a one-sided crush, ever evolve into something more?
1. Chapter 1

**Friends Are Forever…**

I woke to the sound of my alarm clock ringing. After the dizziness of waking up, it was relatively easy to get out of the bed. It had been a cold night and nothing could help me escape from my cold surroundings. "Hello world why does today have to be the first day of school?" My family had just recently moved to Konoha from the land around it. Up until then, home schooling was how learning went for me. Moving was hard, and all of the new surroundings were bound to be hard for me. When someone is raised in the middle of no-where with no brothers and one sister, you don't know about all the ways people act. At this new school, however, I would have to learn about everything. This public school business made me wonder. I really didn't know. I got up and did the daily hygiene stuff. Brushing my teeth came first, then a shower, and combing my hair. Finishing with that was easy and getting ready for school seemed pretty simple.

The stairs in my house were pretty long, so my trip down consisted of tip-toeing down all of the steps except for the last six. Those were extremely easy to jump down. Breakfast was ready and it smelled great.

"Hello daughter." Dad had always been one for short hellos. He was a no-nonsense type of guy.

"H-hello dad." Who's t-taking me to school today?" My mouth was full of food so he could only catch pieces of what I said. Dad still seemed to understand.

"I think you are going to have to walk to school today. I have to leave for work early today. Do you mind? If you do, I could get your aunt to drive you to school." He was often worried about me now. Before, he had never really worried. For a few years, concern was following me all the time. Everyone had been worried about how my sister was doing, but since I began working harder, my family was noticing me again.

"It's okay. Walking to school has been on my to-do list. I'll get going in ten minutes to make it on time." Dad just nodded, and moved on. I finished the rest of my breakfast, and grabbed my bag. The time was 20 minutes until school started. The weather was cold so all that was needed was a jacket. The school provided two uniform jackets for each student at my new school. One was hanging on a rack near the door, so that was the one I grabbed. The jacket was pretty comfortable, so it was the smartest thing to take to school. The outside of my house was freezing. My knee-length skirt felt like it wanted to freeze stiff. The school was not very far from my house and it was freezing, so jogging to school was my best option.

When the school grounds were in sight, I got my first look at the different groups of people. There were people hanging out together that looked like complete opposites. A felling came over me. Something that I could only be describe as comfort. For the first time in my life, different was fitting in. By the way, my name is Hinata Hyuuga.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first people that I saw looked like complete opposites, yet they were acting like really great friends. They were three girls. One had short bubble-gum pink hair, another had dark brown hair in buns and the last girl had long shiny blond hair. The girl with pink hair caught my eye. I immediately looked away, blushing. Attention was something that never had gone well for me. When my eyes shyly looked up again, all three of the girls were looking at me. My fingers were twitching, trying to fight a childish habit of mine. Old habits die hard, and my fingers came up and were shyly pressed together. Suddenly, a yell came from their direction.

"Hey: You!! Are you new? COME HERE!!!!!!!" My face felt hot. This was way more attention than I ever had. I quickly scurried over to them. When they were right in front of me, my head briefly shot up. All of the girls were smiling warmly. All of the shyness that was in me washed away and a laugh took over my frame. The girls looked at me in shock. My laughter subsided when they stopped smiling and they were looking confused.

"Is something wrong?" The girls just laughed at my question.

"No, you just have and adorable laugh. For a second we were scared you were going to be the most boring person to set foot on this school." The brown haired girl was speaking to me.

"I'm Tenten, by the way. This is Sakura, and Ino." Tenten pointed from the pink haired girl to the blond haired girl. My Hyuuga social skills kicked in and I stood straight.

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga, it is very nice to meet you." The silence came, and crickets could have been heard. Blinking rapidly, my explanation quickly followed. "Sorry, I live with strict parents; I guess stuff gets imbedded in your brain when you hear it so many times." The girls started giggling, and the reason behind the giggles was lost. Tenten spoke up first.

"Your parents are really strict. Anyway, this is the girl population of our group. The school is basically separated into different groups of friends. Look here, here come the guys. Oh…Naruto's early. Get ready for an ear full."

My face must have looked puzzled. "Who's Naru-?" My words were cut off by a loud excited voice.

"HEY: SAKURA, INO, TENTEN!!!!! WHO'S THE NEW GIRL!!!!!?" A blond hyper-active line came rushing up to the group. Looking into the face of the new arrival, I felt my face get red. This kid was CUTE! He had spiky blond hair and the most pretty, deep, cerulean eyes I had ever seen. There were odd whisker marks on his face, but those only made him look all the more cute. My inspection was cut off by a bunch of other people coming in at a much slower pace. There was a serious black-haired, black-eyed kid, and a tired-looking kid with what looked like a pineapple on his head. There was also a brown-haired, feral looking kid with a dog, a kid with a boring neutral expression who wore dark glasses, a slightly chubby kid munching on a bag of chips, and a kid with and extremely plastic smile. Naruto was the one who introduced me to everyone… Not that I minded.

"The emo-looking kid is Sasuke, the kid who looks like he could pass out on the spot is Shikamaru, the one who looks like he should be in a pound is Kiba, Glasses over there is Shino, the fa-one eating over there is Choji, and the emotionless jerk over there is Sai. Oh, and I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage. I shall remember to put you all in my acceptance speech." I blinked a few times. He had said the whole introduction in one breath. I stuck out my hand automatically.

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga. It's nice to meet you." He took my hand but only shook it quickly. In that millisecond I felt almost a magnetic pull. No, that could have been my imagination. Naruto wasted no time.

"You don't have to be formal Hina-chan! We are friends now." My words were lost again. After a second of blinking, the words returned.

"Why do you want to be my friend? All of you hardly know me." Before Naruto could answer, Tenten spoke up.

"It doesn't matter why. We want you in our group. Naruto is an excellent judge of character, and if he thinks you're cool, then you are." I smiled first at Tenten, then at Naruto.

"Thank you." School life wasn't going to be too difficult.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sorry, I forgot to put this in the last chapter… I do not own Naruto!!!

We all walked into the school together as a group. It felt good to already have a few friends. My place in the group seemed to be next to Tenten and Sakura. If you looked closely at the formation of our group, it looked as if everyone was trying to protect me. Though it was not something I favored, people often tried to protect me because I looked fragile. The cover gave me time to think. Everyone was taken in by what Naruto was saying, so curiosity took over.

"These people just moved in about three days ago and they live in this huge mansion. I think after school I'm going to go egg it. Anyone want to come?" The statement had me thinking. Who could possibly live in the house Naruto was talking about? Then the thought struck me. My eyes grew wide in shock. The house Naruto wanted to egg was my house. Tears began to appear in my eyes. The one time I finally make friends, someone already wants to egg my house. Sakura was the first to notice that the tears in my eyes were associated with what Naruto was saying.

"They probably have another huge house to move into and won't care if I mess with thi…" Naruto was silenced bye a fist to the stomach.

"Baka, can't you see that what you're saying is making Hinata cry!" Naruto's attentions were brought to me and I cried harder. Silently of course, I had perfected that art by the time Hanabi, my sister, was two months old.

"Hina-chan? What's wrong? What did I say?" His previously excited demeanor had toned down, and he was trying to pull my hands away from my eyes.

"Naruto, the house you want to egg is my house. Please, just leave it alone." I mumbled the last few words, but everyone caught it. Naruto's blue eyes went wide.

"I am so sorry, Hina-chan. I had no idea. Please forgive me!" He had taken both my ands by now. Luckily, I had kept my head down and no one could see the blush that was creeping up my face. My response was the nodding of my head and I lifted my face to smile. Everyone sighed with relief. Tenten finally put away a scroll that had different ninja weapons packed in. I was guessing that she was going to use them on Naruto.

Everyone continued the walk to homeroom. Inside the class, people were jumping off walls. We all took our scheduling cards off the desk and stood in the front of the room. I had classes with everyone, but I had the most classes with Tenten and Naruto. With both of them I had every single class. Naruto was the first to speak up.

"Hina-chan, we have all of our classes together." He raised his arm up for a high-five; unfortunately, it was up too high for me to reach. Suddenly, Naruto yelped in pain. He was rubbing the back of his head in pain. Sasuke stood behind him.

"Baka, first you make her cry, and now you're scaring her so much she might not want to come back to school." He looked at my schedule, and then he looked at his. "We have the same weapons class." He turned on his heel to sit in the back. Sakura promptly followed him like a sheep. I laughed at Sakura. Naruto looked at me with the same face Tenten had looked at me with when she heard me laugh.

"Hina-chan, you have a really cute laugh." I felt my face grow red at the comment, but I tried to push the blush away.

"Thank you: Naruto."

Tenten jumped over three desks and landed right next to me.

"We have every class together. I can't wait to show you what my specialty is. I am a weapons specialist. I wonder what you specialize in. Damn, we have the same classes as Baka over there." She pointed right at Naruto.

"I can hear you, Tenten. By the way: Hina-chan. I am a hand to hand combat specialist. You seem like you might be a hand to hand combat, jutsu, or healing specialist." I had nothing to say about that, so I just listened. After a while, Tenten got bored.

"Come on Hinata. I want to show you my homemade weapons. She tugged me to the teacher's desk and began to unload. Off her back she pulled two thin scrolls. Then she pulled a back from her waist, and scrolls off the pockets in her pants. Inside of each scroll that she opened and pulled the weapons from were tons of shuriken and kunai. There were a few smoke bombs and other weapons. There was an entire pile on the desk when she was done. Every one in the class gaped at the pile.

Tenten had just finished putting everything away again, when a man with silver hair walked in. I the back people were whispering.

"That's the copy ninja, Kakashi Hayate!" Tenten flipped back to her seat and sat down. Naruto and I were the only ones left standing. I was standing because I had no idea what was going on, and Naruto stayed standing because he wasn't impressed by anyone.

"If you two brats don't mind sitting down, we can begin our morning." I scurried back to my seat, and Naruto hopped to the seat next to mine. Kakashi nodded his head in approval.

"All of you know who I am. I know who you are. Don't get in my face and you won't get hurt. I don't care what you do as long as you don't take away my books. Tenten I think this is yours." Kakashi threw one of Tenten's wooden shurikens at her while it was open, and could have easily killed her. Tenten caught it and looked like she was about to throw it back. Instead, she folded it up and stuffed it in her pocket. Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise that she had caught it. He probably thought he would have to catch it. I heard he was fast enough to do that.

Surprise did not stay on his face long. He pulled out an odd looking book.

"Don't get in my face, and try not to kill each other." Crickets could have been heard in that room. As soon as Kakashi turned to his book, Naruto was talking to me.

"Hina-chan, is it nice having parents?" The look in his eyes seemed to be that of a person who lost a lot, but his question was sincere. I thought for an answer.

"It's nice and you do love them, but family can cause you a lot of hurt too. Sometimes you feel like they don't love you, and that perhaps they would be better off without you." By the time the question was answered, my mind was drawn to the disapproval of my father and my heart hurt. It took me a while to notice that Naruto was trying to get my attention. My face turned to him to tell him that he had my attention. I didn't trust my voice. Tears would crack my voice.

Naruto was smiling, but he had a sad expression sprinkling his eyes. Seeing his suffering almost tore my heart out.

"Hina-chan, I can see that you suffer as much pain as I do. You suffer the opposite of what I do. In my heart, I have loss. In yours, you have the pain of being ignored. Your accomplishments are not seen. They see only your failures. I have lived with hatred, but you live with just as much loneliness as I do. The family that has given you their name isn't your real family anymore. If you are ready to let go, your friends here can be your family. We all need someone who loves and supports them, and though I didn't have that, like you didn't have it yesterday, I have a family in my friends now. Hina-chan: welcome to our family."

By then, my friends had gathered. Every one who had welcomed me so warmly was around me. A feeling of acknowledgement and love welled inside me. My family was here, and this was where I belonged.

**A/N: This story will basically have the scheduling of any school, but it will be tweaked to fit the needs of the ninja. Please read and review. **


	3. Chapter 3

Homeroom sped by very quickly after that talk, and first period was up. For my first period, I had weapons training. On the way, Tenten was jumping off the walls. Though I knew Naruto was not the most popular kid in school, I could see other freshman watching him. I tried not to pay attention. The right to get mad was not mine to reserve. Still, envy for these girls who could so easily show there emotions grew inside me.

"Hey, Hinata, are you a good shot?" Tenten had stopped jumping around long enough to ask me that simple question.

"I am better than ordinary civilians, but I am not a specialist. I think I would make a good doctor though. I have helped people and animals before, so perhaps I would be a medical ninja." When my speech on what my talents included had finished, we arrived at the front door of the weaponry room.

Inside of the weaponry room was bleachers, and posts on the far side with targets painted onto them. The room was full of chattering freshman, and a teacher. The only people from our group in the area were Naruto, Tenten, and I. Naruto basically made up for the noise that the others usually made. After the school bell rung to tell us to start class, Iruka took his place.

"Students, welcome to Konoha Ninja Academy. I hope you all do well, and that no one dies. This is the weaponry class. I assume you all took the prep class over the summer and are ready to begin working with the tools." Everyone in the class nodded, and a few said yes.

"Good. Now, line up." People scrambled to get into line. Iruka pulled over a cart with boxes on them. Tenten, Naruto, and I were in the front of the line. He handed every single person in the room a box. When I opened mine, I was shocked. Inside each box was a set of kunai and shuriken.

"Each student in this class is getting a set of tools. Take care of them as these are yours. We do not replace them and you will have to use your own money to buy new ones. Each person in line can step forward and begin their training." We all sprinted to the lanes with the post on the ends. While most people began to through the weapons right off the bat, I counted them and put them in my pack. Tenten tossed her box to me.

"I don't need them. Those are student models, and don't fly well enough for me. You can have them." She proceeded to pull out one of her scrolls and used her own wooden weapons. Her weapons did just as well as the metal ones did. I noticed that Naruto was looking at the box in my hands with envy. A giggle escaped me. I counted the weapons in the new box as well. Pushing aside half, the other half went into my pouch. The left-over ones went back into the box. Naruto was watching me the whole time. Finally, I stood up and handed the box to Naruto, smiling. He looked at me with shock. He looked as if he had never been given anything in the past. Remembering what he said about his past, I figured he never received anything from anyone.

He dug out all of the weapons out of his bag, and put the ones that I had given him at the bottom. His smile was really sincere, and it made me laugh. Once my composure was regained, my attentions were brought back to the target. Tenten's target was in splinters, and mine had not been touched. After a few minutes, my target was diminished. My aim was not nearly as good as Tenten's, but Iruka gave me the second best score.

Naruto had thrown all of his kunai's and not one of them had hit their target. There was nothing else to do, so helping him was my choice. He threw wildly and he was rather tired so all he had to do was relax. It still made me wonder why his aim was so bad. I knew Naruto could not have been that bad of a shot. My observations came to fruit rather quickly. When he threw anything, he would wince at the last second, throwing everything off.

Iruka was standing in the corner helping a kid. I approached him.

"Excuse me, sensei. May I take Naruto to the nurse; he appears to have a shoulder injury." I bowed to show respect and avoiding eye contact came naturally. Iruka poked my shoulder. My eyes shifted up.

"Hinata: no need to be so formal. Yes, you can take Naruto to the nurse." I blushed at the comment on my formality, but I walked away. Naruto was still trying to throw his weapons. Tenten was watching him and she looked amused.

"T-tenten, can you please collect Naruto's weapons. I need to take him to the nurse." I have no idea what Tenten heard in my voice, but she complied with no complaint. Naruto continued to throw ninja tools. The next time he reached for his bag, I grabbed his hand. He turned to look at me.

"Let's go Naruto." He seemed spell struck, and I dragged him along with me. When we arrived at the nurse's office, we waited for five minutes. The principle came in and told us that the nurse was running a little late but she would be in soon. Naruto smiled basically trying to grin and bear it. His breathing was becoming pained and shallow but he tried not to look in pain.

Worry began to consume me. Soon, I couldn't take it anymore, as I had been raised to think everything was my fault. By the time taking action was in my mind, Naruto's resolve was failing and his knuckles were getting white from gripping a rail so tightly. I walked over to the faucet, and grabbed a few paper towels.

"Naruto-kun, do you mind taking off your track-suit jacket? Whatever wound that is under there will get infected by your own sweat if you don't." He nodded and winced as he carefully removed the jacket. The dampened paper towels were dripping in my hand, but my eyes could not come off of the injury on Naruto's shoulder.

There was a huge gash running across his shoulder muscle. It was bleeding a little, and his undershirt was bloody on the edge close to his shoulder. My brain finally registered that it needed to be cleaned. When I placed the damp towels on Naruto's shoulder, he shuddered from the cold and he yelped a little from the stinging pain I was sure he felt. It made no sense how pain-free he had seemed when he was hugging everyone and smiling. It brought tears to my eyes thinking of the pain such a happy person and my friend was going through.

"Naruto-kun, what happened to your shoulder?" Naruto looked at me and his usually bright cerulean eyes dulled.

"Some of the villagers attacked me. I don't even know why." He noticed the tears in my eyes. "It's okay Hina-chan. I forgave them. I am sure they didn't mean to be so cruel. It's just a way to take out the frustration and sadness they suffered as most of their parents were killed by the Kyuubi." His eyes opened wide. "Hina-chan you didn't hear that." He started to panic and move but the pain in his arm kept him sitting.

"What's a Kyuubi?" Naruto got an ultra frightened look in his eyes and he looked around franticly.

"Hinata, be careful." The blue in his eyes suddenly dissipated and they turned a fiery tint of red. It was a flame and hatred red. A growl erupted from his throat. Naruto got up from the cot and his wound healed. He approached me slowly but I knew something was wrong. Naruto was changed and I was sincerely scared for my life. My feet kept backing up and Naruto followed. Backing up against a table, I felt something pierce the back of my leg. Whatever pierced my leg went through my knee and my leg gave way under me. I fell clutching my leg. Naruto still had the angry hated look on his face and right when it looked like he was going to attack me he reeled back. His eyes phased between the brightest blue and red. Finally, Naruto collapsed on the floor. The pain in my leg kept me from standing so I crawled over to him instead.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" He looked at me and smiled weakly.

"I'm okay Hina-chan, just a little tired." The pain in my leg increased and I turned to examine it. The back of my knee had a long senbon sticking out of it. I tugged at the needle and pulled. It came out with a pop. My knee relaxed, but it stung badly. I grabbed a close by bandage and wrapped up my knee. Standing up, my hand extended to Naruto. He took it and tried to get up. It was difficult, but he finally reached the bed and sat down. His eyes were really sad when he looked at my rolled up training pants. The senbon had pierced right through the material, and the bandages were wrapped around my knee tightly. I tried to put as little weight on it as possible.

"I am so sorry, Hina-chan. I didn't want to hurt you." He looked so sad. I wanted to limp over and give him a hug, but all of the courage that I had when I was tending to his injury had left me.

"It's o-okay N-naruto-kun. I know that w-wasn't y-you attacking me. W-was that the K- kyuubi?" Naruto nodded. I tried a smile. It wasn't too hard.

"It's o-okay. I'm just glad you're alright." Right then the nurse came in. She looked at Naruto and then at me.

"Who's hurt worse?" Naruto pointed at me and I pointed at Naruto. The nurse just sighed. "Boy, you're injury is bleeding more. She pointed to a stool and told me to sit on that. When I got up, I realized that my leg didn't bend almost as if the leg had a broken hinge. I tried not to alert the nurse but Naruto was watching me.

The nurse finished relatively quickly with Naruto's injury and moved on to me. She grabbed my leg roughly and the pain made me yelp. Naruto stood up quickly and left.

**A/N: I am terribly sorry that this took so long for me to write. You can send me reviews telling me about any other couples you want to appear in this story, Thank You!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I just realized that I never told what grade all of these students are in. They are all in Middle School in the seventh grade. Everyone went to the same elementary school except for Hinata. Please Enjoy.**

The nurse gave my leg a diagnostic test. I could hear her sigh and she clicked her tongue. Her grumpy eyes looked at me and I could feel the need to show respect to this scary person.

"The senbon tore your tendon. You may have to stay off it for a week and have a medical professional attend you everyday. After that you will be as good as new. I will call your parents." At that comment my heart stopped. I didn't want to go home. If I got hurt on the first day of school, which I did, my family would think of me as weak. It was bad enough already knowing it. I didn't want to have my superstar sister reminding me.

"I-it's okay. I w-will get the medical attention m-myself. Please do n-not alert m-my f-family, they do n-not want to b-be bothered at the moment." She looked at me with surprise. She must have known about the power my father held even if our clan was rather isolated.

"Very well, but I need permission from an adult before the day is out." I nodded my head. I exited the room on crutches and hurried to my class. Worry was consuming me. Father would kick me out of the house if I came home torn up like that. Perhaps he would not care if I stayed at a friend's house for two weeks. He was always too busy training Hanabi. The class was nearby, so I entered the gym a few seconds after I left the nurse. Upon my entry, everyone stared at me. They probably thought it was weird that Naruto was the one that went in injured and I was the one that came out injured. Naruto was in a corner looking really isolated.

Before I could make my way to him, Sakura marched up to me.

"What happened to your leg?" She looked ready to kill whoever hurt me. Naruto flinched when he heard her ask. Maybe he thought I was going to rat him out to the freakishly protective girl in front of me.

"I-it was me Sakura-chan. I tripped and a senbon went through my knee. I just tore a tendon. It will probably heal in two weeks with a good medical ninja." By the time the sentence finished, my stutters were gone, but my voice was very quiet. "The only issue, is that I need and adult to call in my permission to stay out of my home. I really don't want to go home like this." Sakura looked at me like I was crazy.

"Hinata-chan, who wouldn't want to go home with an injury like that?" My gaze dropped to the ground and I dug my toe into the ground.

"My parents just wouldn't understand." Naruto was looking down again and the only open seat was next to him so I limped my way over.

"Hello Naruto-kun." My voice was almost inaudible. His eyes shifted to me. He looked so sad and lost.

"I'm really sorry Hina-chan. I didn't want to hurt you but I can't control it. I don't think the Kyuubi wanted you to know it existed. It trusts no one. You probably hate me." I let out a soft laugh.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. I am not scared of you. Yes, I am in pain but it wasn't your fault. Besides, friends forgive each other right? You are one of my first friends and each and every one of my new friends has a special place in my heart." He had no idea how special his place was. He smiled widely.

"Thanks Hina-chan, you have good things to say. You really should speak louder. You're not one of my good friends Hina-chan," for a second, I prepared myself for the rejection that was coming my way. I was used to rejections. Instead, I felt a warm hand around my cold one. "You're one of my best friends." Naruto was holding my hand. HE WAS FREAKIN HOLDING MY HAND!! I was very happy. I was pretty sure that Naruto only meant it in a friendly way, but it made me feel special. After a few seconds, he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, and let go. My left hand was still warm, and my right hand was ice cold. When I put my hands together, a chill ran down my spine. My hand was ice, his was fire. Then, the bell rang.

Changing proved to be difficult, and I went through a lot of pain, but second period was approaching quickly. My second period was History of Konoha. I could almost skip to the next class despite the pain in my leg. The next class also had Naruto in it. When I entered the classroom, I sat in a chair somewhere near the middle. A few seconds after, Naruto came in and jumped over desks to sit next to me.

"Hi Hina-chan, I promise to protect you from now on, so I will try to sit next to you in all of my classes. I won't ever break my word, so consider yourself better protected than the Hokage. I am the best ninja student anywhere!" I giggled. He had a lot of confidence. Honestly, I didn't mind that he was sitting next to me. Tenten walked in, waved at me and glared at Naruto. She sat in the front which was probably a smart choice, but the middle was more inconspicuous. I hated having attention brought on to me.

I turned back to Naruto.

"Thank You very much Naruto-kun. I know you will protect me well, but you really don't have to." Naruto shook his head.

"I feel really bad about hurting you Hina-chan. My friends are my family. If you need anything, don't be afraid to tell me." We turned back to the lesson and by the end of class; I had a favor to ask.

"Naruto-kun, do you know any adult who could give me permission to keep my injury a secret from my parents?" I watched Naruto as the question sank in and he went to thinking.

"I know the Hokage pretty well, and I think I could get him to write a note for you." I smiled slightly.

"That would be great Naruto-kun, thank you." We had to make it to our third period class, so running was our only option. All I have to say is that it was painful and we barely made it.

For our third period class all of my friends were together in gym class. I had to sit out the entire class but encouraging was what I did usually anyway. By third period, Naruto was completely healed and he actually did a little better than Sasuke Uchiha. If Sasuke-san had any surprise in being beaten, he didn't show it. He came in quietly and rather coolly a few seconds after Naruto. While Naruto had been the fastest on the obstacle course we were doing, Sasuke got all of the attention from the girl population excluding me and Tenten. Most of the boy population was sending Naruto dirty looks.

Sadly, the only people who were congratulating Naruto were Tenten, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Sai, and I. He looked happy nonetheless and continued smiling the whole time. The bell rang and we went to the locker rooms to change once more.

The next class was field strategy. For the first day all we had to do was get of list of people with different skills and put them into the best team possible. I organized mine as quickly as I could. I wanted to talk to Naruto. The team wasn't my best effort ever, but I knew in real life it would at least work. I put my paper in the middle of my desk. Shikamaru was thinking hard and soon he had a team. He placed it at the edge of his desk and fell asleep.

As I sat up, I leaned over to the side to try to look at Naruto's team. He looked like he was thinking hard but he was making no progress.

"Naruto-kun, do you need help?" His head snapped up and his nose was nearly touching mine. I reeled back as I felt my face grow hot. I shook off the blush as soon as I could and turned my attention back to Naruto.

"Hina-chan, do you think you could help me? People say I am a lost cause." He grinned grimly at the comment and turned back to his paper.

"Don't worry about it I am sure I could help. So, who are your people…" The class continued like that and after a few minutes, Naruto had a team that was better than mine and he had done most of the work.

"A very good job Naruto-kun. Now what do we do?" The papers were being collected by the teacher and Naruto and I were sitting at our own desk-table in the back. At the beginning of class, Naruto had pushed our desks together. A few times, paper airplanes ad been aimed at me and every time, shreds of paper floated harmlessly onto my desk. Naruto tore up the papers before they even touched my skin.

"How about, we go to the Hokage after school and I get him to write you the note." Shock was evident on my face.

"You're allowed to just walk into his office?" Naruto looked puzzled.

"Doesn't everyone do that?" Realization dawned upon me. Naruto had no idea how privileged he was.

"Don't worry about what I said Naruto-kun." Our next conversation carried on until the bell rang and everyone ran out trying to get to lunch. The run from second period to third hat hurt my knee and I was really slow. I was slightly dismayed when Naruto got up and left for the door. He walked out and I was still getting a hold of my bag and crutches. I realized that the door was still open and a second later Naruto came running back in. He grabbed my bag and waited for me while I used the crutches to exit the room. The door was held open by a door stop and Naruto closed the door once I was outside. He walked with me the whole way into the cafeteria. My group was sitting at two tables which were mashed together. Everyone already had their food and I felt really bad about having Naruto wait.

"Come on Naruto-kun. You must be hungry. I am very sorry I made you wait for me." I tried to limp my way to the lunch line as quickly as I could. My injury was stinging the whole way. I reached line and Naruto jogged to reach the line.

"It's okay Hina-chan; I would do that for any of my friends." His smile was bright and it made me feel happy. We got our plate of goodness knows what and walked-limped our way back to our table. I ate my food and spoke with my friends. I felt comfortable enough to speak out and when the bell rang we moved to our next class laughing.

The end of the day came quickly and Naruto walked with me to the Hokage's office after I used Sakura's phone to call my parents and tell them I would be staying in the village for two weeks. We chatted the whole way and when we walked into the Hokage's tower, I grew timid again. I was horrible with meeting new people and this was the Hokage! Naruto comfortingly took my hand and led me to the front desk. The lady there looked at Naruto and instantly rang up the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, you have visitors." The voice on the other line was raspy, but it replied.

"Send them in Tora." The lady opened a door and Naruto dragged me through. We walked through the hallway and I watched in dismay as people threw angry glances at Naruto. Naruto just seemed to ignore all the dirty looks. When we reached the Hokage's door, Naruto barged in with m in tow. The way we came in was most certainly not respectful. Nonetheless, the Hokage greeted us with a smile.

"Hello: Naruto! It has been a while since I last saw you." He looked at me and chuckled. "So, is this your newest girlfriend? She is certainly cuter than the others." Naruto turned a bright red while I tried to keep from fainting. Fainting was something that I had been trying not to do for a really long time.

"She's not my GIRLFRIEND!!!!" Naruto yelled that out rather loudly and I couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. Suddenly, I felt Naruto brighten up.

"She's my best friend." His grin was huge and I felt content with just being his best friend and making him happy. The Hokage smiled a grandfather-like smile.

"What can I do for you and your 'best' friend?" Naruto thought for a moment as he tried to recall why we had come here. His face lit up once more, but this time with a request.

"Can you write Hina-chan a note so she can keep her injury a secret from her parents?" Naruto pointed at my knee and nodded.

"I understand that the Hyuuga would not be completely understanding of the injury, but would you be able to pay for the medical attention?" A quick nod was my answer.

"Very well, here." He wrote a quick note and gave it to me.

"Thank you very much Hokage-sama." I bowed deeply to show my gratitude.

"You are very welcome Hinata. You should get that note to the office before the school closes." Naruto grabbed my hand and began dragging me out the door.

"Thanks Grandpa. I owe you one!" He closed the door roughly behind us and we continued our run. I was smiling but inside I was thinking 'other girlfriends'? I tried to think about that comment as little as possible. After we delivered the note, I couldn't handle it anymore.

"What other girlfriends have you had Naruto?" I tried to keep the question as casual as possible.

"I had a few last year and I thought they really cared about me but they were just trying to get closer to Sasuke. We are really good friends, even best friends. Or at least we were before he had his attitude change. One girl really liked me, but she started hurting Sakura, Ino and Tenten, so I dumped her. She wasn't happy at all and now she stalks me and tries to get me to like her. It's kind of gross." He scrunched up his nose at the last sentence and he looked so adorable, that I cracked up laughing. Soon he was laughing to.

"None of them were as nice as you Hina-chan!" My face felt warm. He had no idea about the significance behind those words.

"I have to get to Sakura-chan's house so I'm going to leave now." I started walking in a slightly different direction, and limped faster.

"Hey, Hina-chan, I should walk you to her house. With you being injured and all, I don't want you to get hurt. I nodded and continued with him by my side. When I reached Sakura's home, I gave Naruto a quick one-armed hug and walked up the steps. He was rapidly waving good bye. I blinked and he was gone. Sighing, my body twisted towards the door. The door opened, and a pretty girl appeared in the door way.

"Hey: Hinata-chan! Come in!" Sakura led me in and the rest of the night passed with laughter and a lot of talk about Sasuke, while I had my own thoughts about Naruto.

**A/N: I am going to Oregon soon so it is unknown when I will update. Hopefully a new chapter will appear soon. I love writing for you guys and I love reviews. I know I leave a lot of stuff out but things will get a little bit more complicated and I am trying to sort this all out in my head. Keep reading and reviewing! Thank You! **


	5. Chapter 5

The following two weeks flew past and each day Naruto and I became closer. Even though I didn't need his help as much anymore, where ever he was, I was and vice versa. Sakura also became close to me along with Tenten. We all called each other our best friends, Ino was a bit more distant but we were still friends. Then, the unexpected happened.

(Cue Awesome Flashback of Doom!!!!!!!!!!)

We were all sitting at our table, but Sasuke was gone. He had become VERY distant. There was a new student, and we were all excited. She had decided to sit at our table. She was very pretty with green eyes and dark burgundy hair. Her skin was lightly tanned and she was proud of the way she looked.

"Hi everyone, my name is Kyouko. I hope we can all get along." Without much of a speech, she promptly sat next to Naruto and began chatting away like she had known all of us forever. Our next class flew by, but at the end, I noticed something strange. Naruto was not there with me. It felt odd, like there was an empty area near me. I had never really missed anyone. I didn't want to experience missing someone ever again. I brushed off the feeling and figured that Naruto was just helping Kyouko around as he had helped me. I continued my classes, but Naruto sat with Kyouko in all of his classes, and I felt unsafe and lonely. I tried to keep telling myself that Naruto was just being nice. That day was the first day I could return home, and I returned home…alone.

The next day didn't help much either. We were all sitting together at the lunch table and it was odd because Sasuke was there as well which almost never happened. Naruto decided to make an announcement. He stood up and I noticed he was holding Kyouko's hand. I felt a mental shield go over me in preparation for what I was sure was coming. And come it did.

"Kyouko asked me out, and I agreed. We are officially going out!" Naruto seemed proud. My heart felt like it was being assaulted by hundreds of kunai. I took a shaky breath and felt the pain in my heart. I noticed that Sakura, and Tenten were looking at me nervously. I smiled as brightly as I could.

"That's great news Naruto-kun. I'm glad you found someone that really cares." My voice caught on the last word. The smile maintained stubbornly on my face. I would never let Naruto know he was hurting me as he was. He was too precious to me as a friend. The pain in my heart hurt more than anything, but I tried to keep it from tearing me to pieces. My bangs covered my face and I ate the rest of my food silently. The boys became nervous as they felt the spike of depression in the air. Even Sasuke began to shift around a bit. The only people who remained oblivious were Naruto and Kyouko. I felt no bad feelings towards either of them. How could I? Kyouko was making Naruto happy and Naruto was my best friend. My feelings were to be bottled up inside of me anyway. It really didn't matter.

(End Of Now Super Depressing But Still Awesome Flashback Of Doom!!!!!!!)

A week passed since Naruto and Kyouko got together. Feeling like the third wheel was not the best of things, but I tried to keep the smile on Naruto's face. He deserved happiness. My heart remained sore so I went back to being very quiet. Naruto didn't notice. After that one week, Kyouko started to change. The once happy girl didn't exist anymore. At least not for me. She started being really mean and soon, she resorted to slight violence.

"Stay away from Naruto-kun. He doesn't love you and he never will. Who would even want a little pigeon like you for a friend?" After those comments, she started pinching me even in front of Naruto. When I would yelp in pain, he would ask what was wrong. He would get halfway through the question before Kyouko caught him in a kiss and she made sure I saw. Naruto would forget what he wanted to ask and the cycle would repeat multiple times a day. Kyouko was wearing down my body and mind at the same time.

Soon, I started to wear long-sleeved dark shirts that covered my bruises well. My hair grew out and covered my eyes. I have no idea how it grew out so rapidly, but it did. Then, I was relieved when all of the pain stopped. Kyouko and Naruto were happily walking to class while  
I carried Kyouko's bag. The bangs in my eyes kept me from seeing the sturdy wooden strategy project on the ground. I tripped, and skipped a few feet on one leg before falling to the ground. Before I had completely fallen however, Naruto had grasped my sleeve in a vain attempt to keep me from hitting the ground.

Instead, the sleeve ripped off revealing my two weeks worth of bruises. My entire arm was black and blue and one girl ran to the bathroom. When her friend went in after her, gagging noises were heard. Naruto looked at me with horror.

"Who did that to you?" I looked at him through a slight part in my bangs.

"No one did this to me. They just magically appeared on my arm. You would never guess who did it anyway." I picked my self up and snatched my torn sleeve from him.

"I'm sick of you ignoring me. I've gotta get to class." I threw Kyouko's bag at her. Sakura who was near by was shocked by my attitude. I never acted like that. Naruto looked at me with a shocked expression.

"Who. Did. That. To. You." His words were clipped and angry. Though I was scared, I continued to glare at him through my bangs.

"Ask your girlfriend." I stepped back to see if Naruto would even confront Kyouko. Everyone was surprised when he did.

"Kyouko, do you know anything about those bruises on her arms." Kyouko pouted and shook her head.

"I can't believe you Naruto-kun! You would actually ask me if I pinched her." She glared at me. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"I don't think that anyone said that you pinched her. As far as we all know, she could have fallen. Did you hurt her?" Kyouko looked shocked. She had been caught.

"What if I did?" She took on an angry face. Naruto had a hurt look over his face and the pain he must have felt was hurting me too.

"I don't think I can even like anyone who hurts my friends." His voice was quiet and the pain was evident in his tone. I couldn't stand hurting him after all, he had been my best friend for so long.

"Naruto-kun, you don't have to break up with her and she really hasn't hurt me all that bad." I had stepped forward and my arm was outstretched, but I was still kind of holding one arm in front of me as protection. Kyouko, I guess, had enough.

"Stay away from him you little brat!" She screeched and shoved me back. My arms came in contact with something hard and I hit my head against a locker. There was too much pain, and I guess I must have blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in the white sanitary nurse's room again. Two bright colors and one energetic brown color greeted me. Next to the cot was Sakura, Tenten, and to my surprise Naruto. The two bright colors were Sakura and Naruto's hair but Tenten was jumping off the walls. When I sat up, Tenten grabbed me in a bear hug.

"You're AWAKE!!" A small hiss escaped my lips.

"Tenten, my arms hurt. Please let go." Tenten quickly let go.

"Sorry! Oh! I have to go to detention. I'll see you later!" She grabbed her bags and ran out the door. I turned to Sakura

"Why does she have detention?" Sakura giggled.

"After Kyouko pushed you, Tenten pulled out all of her ammo and was ready to tear Kyouko to shreds. Even then, the once jade eyed Kyouko is now purple-eyed. She has detention for a week." I suddenly felt really bad.

"Remind me to get Tenten a nice gift. That is really kind of her to take care of me like that. I think you deserve one to." Sakura laughed but then she looked back at Naruto who looked sick. Feelings of betrayal and hurt were returning to me.

"Hello Naruto-kun." Naruto suddenly jumped up.

"I am so sorry Hina-chan! I had no idea Kyouko was treating you like that. I broke my promise. I promised to always protect you and I broke my promise." Naruto's head was down by the last word and he seemed no better off. I tried to stand up but I found the ground felt shaky. The counter next to me provided enough support.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. I feel really bad about tearing you and Kyouko apart. I know you really loved her." The last few words were hard to say but they came out. Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I don't think I loved her. I thought I did in the beginning, but it almost felt like she only thought about me as a pet. I hope to someday find the person who has always cared and looked out for me." Naruto seemed satisfied with his answer.

"I hope you find that person someday soon Naruto-kun. I'm going to check out of this place. Sakura-chan, so you mind if I stay over at your house?" Sakura gave me a huge smile.

"You can stay in my house for the whole school year if you want. We have a small guest room available and I'm sure your father would let you stay." The thought of staying with one of my best friends away from my father sounded good.

"I guess I'll ask my dad if that's alright with him." I signed myself out and grabbed my stuff to walk out. Naruto caught up with me.

"I want to walk you home. I want to keep on protecting my best friend." He was smiling with real happiness.

"Okay Naruto-kun." We both walked out of the school together and he told me the whole way about how sorry he was. By the time we got to Sakura's house, I was sick of apologies.

"I get it. You're sorry. Now, we are best friends again and little harm done. I'll keep my arms covered, but do you mind if we sit together in our classes again? I kind of miss that." I was looking at my toes. Naruto just smiled widely.

"Sure." I glanced at Sakura's house. It was late and she was probably already asleep. The lights in her house were off and I started to I wouldn't wake anyone up. Naruto noticed that I wanted to leave so he opened his arms for a hug. I gave him a hug, but after a few seconds he still hadn't let go.

"Uh, Naruto-kun, I need to go." He let go.

"Sorry you just smelled really good." His hand clapped over his mouth and I turned pink. "BYE!" He ran off in the blink of an eye. I walked to the gate of the Haruno household when I heard a noise. Naruto appeared next to me and did something very, unexpected. He kissed my cheek and ran off as fast as he could again. That time my face turned bright red and I couldn't move. Twenty minutes later, Sakura came out in her pajamas.

"Hinata-chan! What are you doing out so late? Are you okay?" I found I couldn't speak coherently.

"Naruto-kun…kiss…cheek"

"Oh my Gosh!" She sighed heavily. "Come on." She grabbed my hand and dragged me into her home. As she was closing the door, a question pooped into my head.

"Tomorrow is going to be awkward isn't it." Sakura gave out another sigh.

"Just a little."

**A/N: Okay. I am going through a stressful time right now with testing coming up but I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please continue reading and which character do you want to hear more about? Sorry this chapter is so short!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, I woke up in the sky blue room that the Haruno family called their guest room. The entire room was sky blue except for the bedposts and a few pieces of furniture. School was going to start soon so I had to get going. After getting dressed and grabbing my training bag, I made my way through the house. As I passed through the kitchen Sakura tossed me a piece of toast and an apple.

"Bye Mom!" She ran out the door after me. We raced to school as it really wasn't a bad distance for ninja to run. Sakura got ahead of me for a little but I caught up soon after. I finished at the school first winning the race. Sakura and I were laughing our lungs out. I stiffened when I realized that I was going to have to be in all the same classes as  
Naruto. After yesterday's events, that was going to be difficult. Inside of the classroom, I found Naruto had not come in yet. I chose my usual seat in the back waiting for and even hoping that Naruto might actually keep his promise of sitting next to me. It had been a while since we had sat together. Naruto came in and true to his promise, sat down next to me.

"Hi: Hina-chan." He grinned widely but rather nervously.

"Hello: Naruto-kun." I was pulling at papers that were lying on my desk.

"Hina-chan?" I looked up at him to show him I was listening. "I need to talk to you later." My fingers twitched and a paper ended up ripped in half.

"Okay Naruto-kun. Lunch?" He nodded. The teacher walked in just then and class began.

During the first four periods, Naruto and I restored our friendship. It was a bit more complicated this time as each time our hands or arms accidentally touched, we would both jump back. Finally, lunch began. Naruto said he didn't feel well at the beginning of lunch so I accompanied him outside.

"Hina-chan, I need some help." I must have looked worried.

"What's wrong?" He grinned slightly.

"It's not that something is wrong: I have a hypothetical question." I nodded to show that I was listening. "If you think you like someone but you aren't sure and you don't want to hurt them by finding out later that you don't really like them or you don't want to be rejected, what do you do?" I knew he was talking about a girl. I didn't know who it was, but I hoped she wasn't another jealous type. Even though my heart hurt saying something, I gave advice.

"I would ask that person if they liked me anyway, unless I felt like I would never in a million years like them. If they did like me back, I would at least give it a try." He looked at me with a tilted head.

"Hina-chan, do you like me?" He looked at his feet. I thought he probably didn't mean it the way I hoped he did.

"Of course I like you, we are best friends right?" He shook his head slowly. He was turning slightly pink.

"No, I meant, do you like-like me?" I felt my entire face grow red.

"Y-yes, at least, I th-think I do." He gulped and stuck his hand out.

"Do you want to give it a try?" I held my hands in front of me. I wasn't sure whether I should or not. Finally, I lowered one hand to his.

"Yes, but I want to keep it kind of quiet. I am not good with a lot of attention." He nodded.

"Sure, how about we keep it to ourselves until you feel like sharing." I felt a lot more comfortable.

"Okay, thank you Naruto-kun." We sat in a tree the rest of the day talking about where we would meet to hang out. The winner was the park where there were a lot of trees to hide in. When the bell rang, Sakura and Tenten were suspicious of the fact that Naruto and I moved around everywhere together. Sometimes during the next class we held hands under the table and we hoped no one noticed. That day, we walked apart but I had Naruto in my thoughts the whole way to Sakura's house.

The next morning, I woke up both early and happy. I got ready and walked out the door. I knew I was going to be early. To my surprise, Naruto was outside Sakura's gate. When he saw me he smiled brightly. I blushed and looked down at my feet. Then I began to think.

"Naruto-kun, how long have you been out here?" He looked at his fingers and counted.

"About twenty minutes." My mouth just hung open.

"Naruto-kun, you could get sick!" He looked confused.

"I thought this is what I was supposed to do." Blushing, I explained it to him.

"Sometimes you can but not when it is thirty degrees outside! That only makes people worried…" I started to chew on my lip. "I'll be right back." I ran into the house, pulled down and instant ramen cup, poured some hot water from the kettle my dad put on the stove, and took the cup and a fork outside. Naruto was rubbing his hands together and blowing on them. He smiled when he saw me but absolutely grinned when he saw what I was holding in my hands and almost started jumping around when I held it out to him.

"Thanks Hina-chan!" He started eating even though the soup was steaming hot and the noodles were still crunchy. I couldn't help but quietly laugh at the way he happily ate the soup. He could even eat while walking. He finished the ramen quickly and through the cup away. The fork was disposable as well, though he had hardly used it.

"What do you want to do today? I don't think you want to tell anyone yet do you?" I shook my head. "I think we can just hang out like best friends should with a few exceptions." Saying that, he grabbed my hand and his long fingers wrapped entirely around me small hand. I must have blushed scarlet and looked away. He seemed completely oblivious and kept on walking. Then I remembered something.

"Oh! I-I have s-something f-for you." My stuttering suddenly returned but I reached into my backpack to get what I wanted out. "Here, I mad this for you yesterday. I'm not very good at cooking so sorry if it's not very good." I handed him a bento box wrapped in a cloth. He took the box carefully as if it was a sacred item.

"Thank you Hina-chan!" He got the same happy look that he had when I had given him the extra weapons. "You know your one of the few people who has ever given me anything before besides Iruka-sensei who buys me ramen, Choji who once gave me his second to last chip, and Sakura who gives me beatings. Although Iruka-sensei never buys me all of that ramen on purpose. I usually leave him with the check." I blinked once, then again. Was I supposed to be happy? Frankly, Naruto had lost me at Iruka-sensei.

He finally put the bento box away and grabbed my hand again. I blushed but not as red this time. We walked to school in relative conversation, though the conversation consisted of Naruto's actions and my laughter at those actions. When we got to school, we let go of each others hands and started to talk about school. I found out Naruto hadn't finished even half of his homework and even though I offered to let him copy, he said he would feel guilty if he was caught cheating off of his girlfriend.

The idea shocked me for a moment. I was really Naruto's girlfriend. I had to hear it from him before I could actually believe it. I felt pretty comfortable with the idea. When we finally arrived at school, Sakura and Tenten gave me questioning looks. I blushed in response and hoped they wouldn't take it the wrong way. School started after Naruto had been hit on the head a total of seven times by Sakura for staring at me for to long.

The classes flew by and when Naruto finally opened up his bento at lunch, I was nervous. He looked at the food inside and his eyes lit up. One bite went into his mouth and I was almost falling out of the chair waiting for his reaction. He began to eat faster and faster and soon all of the onigiri, bean buns, sushi, and rice were all gone except for one onigiri. Everyone stared at Naruto.

"It tastes really good. Here." He cut the last onigiri in half and gave it to Tenten and Sakura who split the pieces and passed it around. The onigiri were fairly well sized so it made it around the table. Tenten and Sakura nibbled at there pieces while the boys ate theirs in one bite. Everyone looked at their fingers longingly. Tenten, once again, spoke up first.

"That was really good. Where'd you get it." Naruto sat up straight and looked nervous. I knew he was horrible at thinking on his feet.

"I bought it at a…store on the way to school." Tenten looked suspicious.

"Which store?" Tenten knew there were no food stores on the way to school from Naruto's apartment.

"Well, umm…" Just then, the bell rang. Both Naruto and I let out a sigh at the same time. Naruto threw the bento box in a trash can as it was disposable and we left for class leaving everyone rather confused.

At the end of the school day I was tired so all I wanted to do was get to Sakura's house. On my way out of the school I heard a conversation between Shikamaru, Sasuke, Sai and Naruto. Sasuke had been hanging out with us a lot more. Especially around Sakura. For once, Sasuke was the one talking.

"Baka, what are YOU going to do? The spring dance is coming up and you don't have a date. Do you even know a girl who likes you? Sai has Ino, Shikamaru has Temari even though she is in a different village, we can find a way to get her here and I plan on accepting Sakura's invitation. You are going to be the only one besides Chouji who isn't going to have a date and Chouji doesn't even want to go. Face it, you will never have a girlfriend." Naruto looked like he was ready to burst. I started to get worried.

"I don't think you should even bother going to the dance." With that Naruto snapped.

"I AM GOING TO THE DANCE! I do have a girlfriend that is better than any of your girlfriends!!!" He was about to finish when he got the look on his face that he remembered it was supposed to be a secret. Sasuke was smirking.

"I've got to go." He ran towards the door that I was at and exited with a fast walk. When he saw me he walked by and finally registered I was there. He turned to face me.

"I'm sorry Hina-chan! I didn't mean for that to come out. I was so sick of them making fun of me and I know you're really awesome. By the way, lunch was amazing." I almost laughed at the fact that he got distracted so easily.

"Naruto-kun, it's alright. I guess we can tell them now…" An idea popped into my head. One that would make Naruto happy and much to my dislike, me a dress-up doll.

"Naruto-kun, the dance is in a few days so we only have a little while to carry this through." He leaned over to hear what I was saying. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

The rest of the week, everyone heard about how awesome Naruto's girlfriend was. How she was a great cook and ultra nice, and much more which I felt like more than half was mad up. When Thursday the day before of the dance finally arrived, I asked Tenten, Sakura, and Ino to take me shopping. When I greeted them I pulled out the note card Naruto had written for me as I could not think of what to say. The card said, 'I need help to pick a pretty dress for me to wear so I look good for my super good-looking, smart, brave, and over-all awesome date.' Instead I just said,

"I need help to pick out a nice dress for the dance." Ino had a glint in her eyes.

"No problem we can help. Mwahahaha." Luckily for me, Tenten and Sakura were there too so by the end of the day I had a nice dark lavender, flowing, dress that people said complemented my eyes. I chose to wear my hair down but with a pin to glint in my hair. I paid easily for the dress and brooch. I picked out pretty light lavender metallic flats and I decided not to use make up. The next day was going to be fun.

The next day flew by and there was a constant buzz about what was going to happen at the dance. Girls were going to confess their love and boys were hoping to get through the tuxes alive. Finally the dance arrived and Naruto was waiting outside of the gym as arranged with Shikamaru, Sai, and Sasuke waiting for their dates. After five minutes, they all had their dates except for Naruto. Sasuke was smirking but said they would wait with him for five minutes to see him get stood up by his "girlfriend". Finally, right on cue, I walked out from the side of the gym and tapped Sai and Sasuke's shoulders. When they turned, they looked surprised.

"E-excuse m-me." I was blushing profusely but nonetheless, finished my task. I got through our group and grasped Naruto's hand. Sasuke looked like a fish. His hair helped with the image.

"You weren't lying?" He was speaking to Naruto.

"Nope!" Naruto was happy. He had finally showed up Sasuke. Then I remembered what was in my bag.

"Oh! I brought éclairs for everyone. Out of my bag, I pulled a box gull with mini éclairs. The Italian chef I had at home to cook the occasional Italian Hyuuga meals had taught me to bake many delicious pastries. I opened the box and let people grab them. Personally, I took more pleasure from watching people eat my food then actually eating it myself so there was plenty to go around. Sakura had a puzzled look on her face.

"For some reason this kind of feels familiar. It has the same style behind it that Naruto's lunch had this afternoon." After that comment she continued to eat the pastry. Naruto popped the rest of his into his mouth and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, Hina-chan made that too." Everyone stared at us open mouthed. I am not sure who but someone passing said, "Lucky B-----d" under their breath. Naruto's head only increased in size. I shoved down hard on his foot to keep him from getting a bigger ego. He chuckled at my attempt to hurt him.

"Hina-chan, you can't hurt me like that you're too darn light. Let's go." He pulled me into the gym and everyone else followed, still slightly shocked.

Inside of the gym, there were tons of people dancing. Quite a few people were using their ninja skills to keep from getting trampled. Naruto really didn't need to use any skills. People just naturally shied away from him, though there were a few scary fan girls and some guys following us. I had absolutely no idea why we were being followed and it scared me. While we trailed around, Naruto kept me right by his side. Not that minded, after all, the guys were giving me the creeps.

At one point, someone grabbed my hand and tugged. When Naruto noticed I was being pulled away, he reached to the hand and there was a sickening crunch, a yelp and whoever it was left. Naruto was mumbling something about pigs, girlfriends, and punch. Once toward the back of the gym where it was relatively quiet, someone wrapped their arms around  
Naruto's waist. I stayed back, hurt, but I honestly didn't have the guts to try to claim him. He continued holding my hand. With one hand he pried the fan girls arms from his waist and walked away with me. We settled for somewhere near the middle where Sakura and Sasuke where slow dancing. If a girl approached Sasuke, he would give them an icy glare and if they didn't get the message, Sakura would send them flying, literally.

Naruto suddenly hugged me and decided to dance. It wasn't exactly a dance, I felt more like a rag doll because Naruto picked me up and twirled around lowly. I was rather short compared to him.

"Naruto-kun, do you mind putting me down?" He looked at me puzzled for a second, but he finally realized my dilemma.

"Oh, sorry." When he put me down, I shyly hugged him. He hugged me back and for the first time, we danced and didn't care if anyone saw.

**A/N: That sounds like a good place to stop the story, but I want this story to continue much longer. By the way, I want to make the set up of education for this fic to be like this: pre-gennin education goes up to eigth grade, and high school is when they do all of the missions as a sort of high school curriculum. The teams are going to be all scrambled up. **

**This week, I want reviews on whether or not you want another male Naruto character to start liking Hinata and which male character. I will not make it really last as I am a true NaruHina fan all the way. I just want jealousy put in because it is a very human emotion. It is NORMAL!**


	7. Chapter 7

The weeks that followed were happy for Naruto and I. I made lunch for Naruto on a daily basis and he said he felt better thanbefore. He still adored ramen, but he ate it less often, and he felt healthier. People could see that it was true. His skin, though never covered by pimples, glowed, he had more energy, his muscles developed more, and he got a little taller. His grades also improved as he was able to stay a little more focused. Unfortunately for me, fan girls noticed this as well, and more people were added to the Naruto Fan Club.

At first, the increase in the NFC scared me, but Sakura, Tenten, and Ino kept most of them away. Sakura could deform faces, Tenten could leave scars, and Ino could do the worst. She could get into your mind and make you commit social suicide by mind transferring and walking your body into the boys' bathroom. It was safe to say that people left Naruto and me alone, except for a few. I came out of my shell even more and I abandoned my old heavy jacket for shirts and light sweaters. I never took Naruto's jacket from him when he offered it because I felt no matter whom he was, it was rude to take his jacket from him. The only times I actually accepted it was when I was shivering so badly I could hardly walk and when it was cold and Naruto got worried about me so he put the jacket on me like a straight jacket. I screamed like a crazy person when he put it on because I worried he would freeze to death. One day, realization of a common danger dawned on my. Naruto and I were walking down the hall in school when out of no where a girl glomped him and kissed him. He struggled really hard to get free. I had to knock her out because she was going to suffocate him Naruto didn't have the best lung capacity. When she fell to the ground I noticed she was one of the prettiest girls in school and for a second I felt fear. I pulled a toothbrush and toothpaste out of my backpack absentmindedly and gave them to Naruto. That had happened a lot in the week. He took it and ran into the boys bathroom yelling,

"She stuck her tongue in my mouth!" I cringed. A few people that were walking by made faces. In the meantime, I was thinking. The girl was really pretty. Tons of thoughts ran through my head. 'What if Naruto got tired of me? Would he just leave me for the next pretty girl?' I knew I wasn't that great. Lead was being put on my shoulders block by block.

I picked up the girl with a struggle. She was much taller than me, almost the same height as Naruto. Once she was on my shoulder, Naruto was out. I would have laughed at him if I hadn't been so worried. His mouth had obviously been scrubbed hard. His lips were pink! He kept his distance as we walked to our class. We were a few seconds late but as an excuse I said,

"This girl assaulted Naruto-san." I held the girl up by her shit collar. "Can we take her to the nurse's office?" The teacher nodded and I dragged the girl out the door. Naruto followed me but didn't dare to stay behind with the girl. He walked next to me, but I realized he was getting uncomfortable with the silent treatment I was giving him.

"Hina-chan? Why did you call me Naruto-san? Do you hate me? Did I make you mad?" All of the questions came flooding out of his mouth. My hair covered the smirk playing at my lips. I decided to take Naruto for a guilt trip.

"It's nothing Naruto-SAN, it's just that you obviously like these girls better than your own girlfriend." I kept my head down as if I was sad when really, I was hiding my grin. Meanwhile, Naruto started to panic.

"I'm SORRY!!!!!! I don't like these girls better! I really, really like you!" Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. My laughter rang throughout the halls. When I looked at Naruto again, he looked very lost.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I couldn't help it. I have to laugh at some point in my life you know." I finished dragging the girl through the halls and waited while Naruto signed her in. As Naruto talked to the nurse, I had time to think. In more ways then one, that was not a good thing. The thoughts of Naruto going off with another girl ran through my head and the weight came back. When Naruto came out I smiled and started walking back. Suddenly, I was wrapped in a hug.

"Why are you crying: Hina-chan?" His arms were wrapped around my shoulders.

"I-I'm not c-crying." I managed to keep the tears out of my voice. His hand reached up to my face and wiped away a tear.

"I think you are. Why?" There was this pressure building up. I stayed clenching my fists for a second. The pressure grew and grew and finally a chocked sob erupted from my throat.

"I'm just scared! I'm scared that you'll like the next pretty girl so much that you would want to leave me. My whole life people have been leaving me behind and each time I've had to cope. My mom, my dad, my sister, my cousins all left me in the dust. I can't go through that again. Not again…" I was visibly shaking when I finished. Naruto just hugged me tighter.

"Hina-chan, I wouldn't leave you for the world. Come on we have to get to class." He tugged on my hand gently. My eyes were wiped clean by my sleeve and I put on a smile. I felt a lot better.

"Okay, Naruto-kun." We walked into the class together and we didn't say a word to each other until lunch.

"Hey: Hina-chan!" Naruto kissed me on my forehead and sat next to me. We had talked so much in fourth period that we got put on opposite sides of the classroom so we didn't talk for the entire fourth period time. I liked lunch a lot better now because Sakura was there to repel any horrible fan girls. People had finally coupled after the dance. Sasuke and Sakura were going out, Ino and Sai were together and though she was not there, Shikamaru was with Temari. Naruto and I were constantly spending time together because my father didn't know and all of my friends knew. Even though Naruto was the one who was supposed to take care of me I often had to bail him out of tough situations. One time, he put snakes in the Hokage's office. I was there as his lawyer and won the case. Of course, even I didn't think I was going to get him out of that one.

Summer approached soon after the spring dance and I couldn't wait until Naruto and I had time to really have fun instead of having constant study dates.

The first week of summer proved to be eventful but the second week really took my breath away: in a very bad way. Ino came barging to the picnic table my group had gathered at.

"My cousin is coming to visit!" She seemed exasperated at what sounded like very good news.

"What's wrong with that?" I had asked the question that everyone wanted to ask.

"Only the fact that she is a complete spoiled brat who is used to getting whatever she wants and is a major boyfriend stealer!." All of the girls suddenly grasped the hand of their boyfriends tighter. I sat shivering on a relatively warm day.

"When is she coming?" Sakura asked that question.

"She's…HERE?" Everyone turned to where Ino was staring. She was looking at a flashy black car. A girl got out of the passenger seat and put her sunglasses on top of her head. She was a very gorgeous girl. I gripped Naruto's hand tighter. This girl had long blond hair like Ino's but hers was let down and was curly. When she took of her glasses, I noticed her eyes were a dusty green. They were smoky like Ino's but this girl knew she was pretty and made sure everyone knew it too. She saw Ino and waved with a big smile. Ino did the same but when she hugged the girl, she scrunched her nose. Finally, Ino introduced her.

"This is my cousin, Tora-chan, Tora, this is everyone." Luckily of me, Tora-chan first looked at Sasuke. Interest illuminated her eyes.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Sasuke took her hand quickly and let go. Tora let go quickly as well. She then looked at Naruto. I tensed a bit.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand and Naruto shook it politely, but his lasted longer. I noticed that she was the one shaking his hand up and down. Naruto pulled his hand away and put his arm around my shoulder. Tora frowned. Kiba must have smelled the tension in the air.

"Hey guys, lets go play some football!" He grabbed a football out of I don't know where and everyone ran off screaming. Tora took Naruto's seat next to me.

"Hey was that blonde kid your boyfriend?" Her blunt question shocked me.

"Yes he is." I was blushing. She chuckled.

"Hm…He's way out of your league." That comment left me hurt. It was a very odd thing to say to someone. I stood up and pointed my next sentence to the girls.

"Let's go watch the game." Ino pranced up next to me.

"Tora is making a snatch for Naruto. I am saying this so you know what's coming, she doesn't just expect to get what she wants, she ALWAYS gets what she wants." With that, Ino ran up to watch Sai play. Her warning left me with a haunting feeling. When I sat down to watch, Naruto flashed me a smile which I could barely return. Tora returned it for me however, with an added wave.

**NORMAL POV**

Naruto had just dropped Hinata off and he felt good. He knew that he really liked Hinata. While he wasn't quite sure if he LOVED her, he knew he would not break her heart anytime soon. He was turning into and alley when Tora appeared out of the shadows. Her eyes were glowing the eerie green that was her natural eye color. Naruto realized too late that her hands were taking aim and when he did notice, she had already started the mind transfer jutsu.

Inside Naruto's head, Tora searched for the memory plug. When she found the area, she also found a huge box with a giant fox. The fox bared its teeth.

"GET OUT OF HERE!! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!!!" The fox started hissing. Tora smirked.

"You're in a cage. Do you think you can hurt me? Besides, you should be treating your hosts future girlfriend better than that." The fox strained to escape the cage.

"That girl is precious to this boy. Don't mess with his mind!" The Fox thrashed around in his cage.

"I liked you better when I couldn't hear you." Tora wrote a seal that said muzzle and placed it on the cage. The fox screeched and thrashed, but no sound escaped its mouth.

"Much better!" Tora walked to the memory bank and pulled out all traces of Hinata. Instead she placed herself in the empty slots. She felt herself being sucked out of Naruto's mind as Naruto woke up. As her mind moved back, she dropped Hinata's info on the ground.

Naruto stirred from the ground and looked up to see Tora helping him up. He blinked.

"Thanks Tora-chan!" He dusted himself off and grabbed her hand.

"I'll walk you home. Sorry about the way you found me." He grinned sheepishly.

"It's fine Naruto-kun. My house is this way." Naruto had started to walk towards Hinata's house.

"Oh. Sorry. I could have sworn you used to live over there. Oh well."

**HINATA'S POV**

I woke up with a start. I knew I had a bad dream but I couldn't remember what it was about. My clock said seven a.m. and I only had thirty minutes to get ready for the date Naruto and I had today. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and hair and dressed all while Sakura was trying to get out of the bed. I was more of a night person, but when I felt like I had to I moved fast.

When I reached the appointed spot, Naruto was there waiting. He grinned at me nervously and then continued looking for someone.

"Naruto-kun, who are you looking for?" Naruto looked at me puzzled.

"I'm waiting for my girlfriend." He returned back to looking around.

"I'm right here!" He looked at me with surprise.

"You're not my girlfriend; I've never seen you before!" My face fell and I began to think was he kidding. Suddenly I heard a shout.

"Hey! Naruto-kun!" Tora appeared out of nowhere and took Naruto's hand.

"Hey Tora-chan." He leaned over and kissed Tora's cheek. The scene unfolding before me tore me to pieces. Tora-chan looked at me. She smiled at me smugly.

"You can leave my boyfriend and me in peace." I backed away. Turning around, I ran back to Sakura's house.

At Sakura's house, Ino opened the door smiling. When she saw me, she looked worried and pulled me inside. Once I was inside the door I really began to cry. Sakura and Ino were next to me within seconds.

"What happened?" Sakura led me to a chair and sat me down. After a few more tears I sucked in my emotions as always and get ready to reply.

"I was going to meet up with Naruto for our date today, and he acted like he didn't remember at all. Then as if that wasn't bad enough, he walked off with Tora." Ino stood up straight and her mouth pulled into a straight line.

"I TOLD you she would do this! I am so sick of her always getting what she wants." I sighed.

"I really don't think there is anything you can do. If Naruto really chose her, then I don't want to get in their way. If he doesn't love me, then the only way I can show him I love him is by leaving him be. Really, It's fine." Ino stared at me.

"Hinata, are you even human!? I don't care what you say; I am challenging her to a fight. I have been trained enough to at least stand a chance." Sakura was nodding.

"All we need is to figure out what we are going to put on the line…"

The next day, Ino, Sakura, Tenten, and I all looked for Naruto and Tora. When we found them, they were in the park taking a walk. Tora looked like she was having fun, but Naruto looked a bit scared. Ino wasted no time and walked right up to Tora.

"What you did is wrong Tora." Tora looked at her with a smirk.

"What is it that I did wrong; it all worked out well for me." Ino glanced at Naruto.

"Naruto, do you know who Hinata is?" Naruto looked at Ino and shook his head. Ino's eyes widened.

"Y-you brainwashed him!" Tora smirked. Ino glared.

"How about we play a game, Tora? If you win, you can go off with Naruto and see if you really love him. If I win, you give Naruto back to Hinata." Tora put one hand on her hip and thought.

"I like it better if you meet your conditions, but instead of my conditions, I restore half of Naruto's memories of Hinata's and see if he chooses her over him. If not, no deal." Ino looked back at me. As much as it scared me, I knew she was serious.

"Fine, the game will be a battle in the Forest of Death. Whoever wins must have their conditions met." Ino stuck out her hand and Tora shook it. Ino took Tora away and Naruto tried to follow her. Tenten stepped forward holding out a few weapons. She didn't look nice and she practically snarled out her next words.

"You go any farther and I will take off your head." Naruto didn't take another step. I don't blame him, even my hand flew up to my neck. Sakura simply crushed a boulder that was unfortunately, next to Naruto.

The Forest of Death was frightening. I was still following Tenten like a lost puppy, and Sakura was in the back, punching fan girls who got in my face to laugh at me. Ino walked to the farthest end of the field. Sakura and I walked to around the middle of the field. Tora faced Ino and Ino slipped on the gloves Sakura had let her borrow. Sakura started the fight.

"Start!" Tora and Ino ran at each other head on. As Tora was about to hit with a punch, Ino used a substitution. Tora's fist splintered the log. Ino was somewhere in the nearby trees. Tora was standing in the middle of the field waiting. Ino shot out of the trees like a rocket, but Tora grabbed the arm that was aimed at her and threw Ino into the trees nearby. Tora also jumped into the trees. Ino flew out of the tree sideways, but she somehow landed on her feet. Tora jumped out right after her. Ino came running towards Tora with one fist out which Tora dodged, but Ino hit her with her other fist from below. Tora flew back a few feet but came at Ino running again. Ino kept running and Tora pulled two kunai out of no where. The Kunai had a narrow space between them and Ino had no time to move. She stood on her hands and the kunai grazed the sides of her waist. Ino hid behind a tree that was nearby. Tora could see the smallest bit of Ino but even that was enough.

Ino slowly tried to dodge as Tora threw a mind transfer jutsu at her. The jutsu hit, but Ino disappeared in a puff of smoke. I watched as after ten seconds, which is pretty fast, Tora returned to her body. Ino flew out of the trees again and tried to assault Tora. Ino flew back and Tora had already prepared her jutsu.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Tora's body collapsed and Ino…disappeared again?" Instead, a beetle that was at Tora's feet turned into Ino and Ino used the Mind Transfer Jutsu. Tora didn't have time to return to her body. Tora's body stood up.

"I give up." Tora collapsed again and Ino awoke. She had a big smile on her face.

"I won!" We all turned to Tora.

"Restore half of his memories. We shall see who he likes better." Sakura was pointing at Naruto. Tora walked to Naruto, took aim and fired. After a minute, Tora returned.

"Okay, now we can hold a contest to see who he remembers!" She walked up to Naruto and immediately said, "Hey baby, how are you. Do you remember me? I'm your girlfriend. Naruto looked at her nervously.

"Yea I know you. Hi; Tora-chan." Tora smugly smiled at me. "Do you remember her." Tora pointed at me.

"Yea, that's Hina-chan. She's my best friend." Realization rested heavily in my heart. Tora had replaced only the memories in which I was Naruto's best friend. Sakura glared. Then she looked like she had an idea.

"How about we do a hand test? My mom told me about how someone can tell who they like better by holding their hand." Tora sprayed perfume on her hand and stuck it out for Naruto to hold. He held her hand and that was all. He smiled. Sakura grabbed my hand and pulled it into Naruto's reach. My heart was pounding so badly. If Naruto rejected me, I would have died of a heart attack. Naruto took my hand, and held it. His fingers intertwined with mine and it felt right. Naruto grinned widely and hugged me.

"Hey; Hina-chan, it's good to have you back." Tora stamped her foot and walked away.

"It's good to be back; Naruto-kun." With those words, Naruto's eyes began to flash from side to side. His eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

"He probably reset his own memory. We should take him to my dad when he wakes up to make sure his mental health is good enough. For now he should rest." I hugged Naruto so he wouldn't fall backwards.

"What do we do about Tora?" Ino grinned.

"I set her mind to self-destruct the information she had on how to brain wash people. Her mind will explode in a few hours. You should be there when she does. She is probably going to reveal a whole bunch of secrets. I have to go. Say hi to Naruto for me when he wakes up. Bye!" I consented to putting Naruto on my back and though he was much bigger than me, I got along fine. Suddenly I felt Naruto's arms tighten around me and he mumbled,

"MMmm. Lavender." I must have turned red. Finally, I reached Naruto's apartment, I had to break in. It was rather embarrassing, but I managed to get in without breaking too many things.

As I laid Naruto onto his bed, he began mumbling quietly. I tried to lean in to hear what he said, but he grabbed me around the waist and hugged me like a teddy bear. Honestly, I felt bad for the teddy bears Naruto had. I tried to escape, but no matter what Naruto's grip just got tighter. A few times he whimpered and frowned in his sleep like a little fox and I found that cute. My decision was to ultimately to stop moving, because my waist must have undergone reduction as Naruto hugged me.

After fifteen more minutes of simply sitting there, I became extremely tired and decided to try to sleep. It ended up being very easy to sleep and I ended up knocked out, but warm.

The next morning, Naruto finally woke up. He kept me in the death grip until he woke up. When he opened his eyes he grinned sheepishly and scooted away from me.

"Sorry Hina-chan. I had no idea I was doing that." I got up and went around the bed to help him get out of bed. At first he refused to but when he stood up he buckled in pain.

"Did I get a hangover or something? My head feels horrible!" He crumpled onto the bed backwards.

"It's a long story. For now, I have to get you to Mr. Yamanaka." Naruto sat up reluctantly. I stuck my hand out to him and he took it.

"I think I owe you and apology." He was looking at his feet. My eyes shifted back to him.

"Why do you need to apologize?" My eyes were now straight forward. We needed to get to Ino's as soon as possible.

"I just remembered what has been happening. I am so sorry Hina-chan." I turned back and grinned.

"It's alright. It hurt a lot, but I know it wasn't your fault at all." He grinned back. We ran quickly and we were soon at Ino's. Naruto paced around while I talked to Mr. Yamanaka.

"Naruto-kun was recently brainwashed and I wanted to know if it was a good time for a mental check-up." The man standing in the doorway ushered us in and brought us into a living room.

"Hyuuga-san, you can wait here in the living room while I take Naruto here for a check up." Naruto smiled at me quickly and followed Mr. Yamanaka. I started playing with the necklace that was always around my neck. It was the last thing my mother gave me before she left. I always kept it with me. Suddenly, Tora came into the room. Even though I had gained a lot of courage, I still had fear. Tora simply sneered at me. She stood there in the hall waiting for something. Suddenly, Naruto came out. Tora grabbed him by his collar and kissed him. Naruto struggled for a few seconds but his arms came up and he pushed Tora away. Tora fell backward but when she looked up again her eyes were slitted and reptilian. She looked snake-like. Her normal features returned and she looked cruelly beautiful once more. Naruto resembled a protective fox suddenly, but those features disappeared quickly.

"Don't ever approach me like that again." His voice sounded venomous and serious. Tora looked up from the ground at me. She was looking at me with an intense glare. Naruto stepped in front of me. "Leave her alone." It was obvious he didn't want to stay around any longer. I grabbed his hand and tugged. Naruto smiled at me and we left together. I could almost hear steam escaping Tora's ears. Naruto quickly jumped to the right as a kunai came whizzing by our ears. He had thrown me into the air and I had miraculously landed on my feet. We looked back to see who had thrown the kunai, but whoever it was had left.

"I think we should spend some time together away from everyone else." He suddenly picked me up onto his back and ran off. We were going so fast even I couldn't understand where we were going. I find it highly unlikely that we were followed by any one. We stopped in a green area and it took me a bit of time to realize that we were in the Forest of Death.

"I came here often when I was being chased around by the villagers. Most of them were too scared to come in here and those who did were wiped out by Anko-sensei. She has always protected me." He grabbed my hand and we jumped into the trees. He hopped over a few and finally we came to a cluster of closely arranged trees. I was astounded by what I saw. Right in front of me was the branches of four large trees. The branches were meshed together and formed a sort of bed. Naruto encouraged me to step on it. I took a step onto the canopy and I was shocked to find that it was actually very sturdy. Naruto followed me onto it. If you were to look down, you would see only branches. The trees had almost boded together. There was no room for anyone to see through the floor. After more inspection, I dropped myself onto the canopy. The branches were not as hard as I thought they were going to be and it felt just as nice as a bed. Naruto lay down next to me and put his arm under my head.

"What do you think of my hide out?" I smiled up at the air.

"I think it is a simply gorgeous place." He smiled even wider. I snuggled in closer to him. The weather was getting colder and colder. Soon it was going to be night time. Before I knew it, the stars were above our heads, and soon after, I fell asleep.

The next morning, Naruto and I woke up at around the same time. We were close to each other, hugging happily. The morning was cold, but we felt fine. Suddenly I remembered something.

"Naruto, do you mind visiting my secret hiding place?" He shook his head. I smiled at him. "Great." I got up with a struggle. My muscles were stiff, but I managed. Naruto simply stood up. I grabbed his hand, and we ran to a park. I dragged him past that park to a little meadow. Few people ever visited this meadow, and Only I knew about the pond. I ran a little further until we reached a bunch of trees. I wove through the many trees easily, and Naruto managed to bump only a few times. At the pond Naruto simply looked down.

"This is your hiding place?" He tried to act excited. I laughed at his faked excitement.

"No, this is the entrance to my secret hiding place." Without warning him, I jumped into the water. He immediately followed me and we swam to the middle. We both took one big breath once we reached the middle. I dove under first, and began to swim. At first glance, the pond looks very shallow, but at the middle, there is a deep hole. At the bottom of the hole, there is a bunch of rocks. Once we reached the rocks, I noticed Naruto was struggling for air. With a flick of my hand, an air bubble formed around is mouth and nose. He breathed freely and gratefully. I showed Naruto a hole that was pretty invisible, and went in. Inside of the hole, there was a long tunnel. I swam through that and finally, there was a shimmering opening. I swam to the opening and popped through the surface. Right above the hole, was a beam of light that shot onto the pool of water. I got out of the way and Naruto popped out of the hole. He scrambled onto the ground and practically hugged it.

"I really thought I was going to die down there." He was flat on the grass. He sat up when he noticed I was not paying attention to him. "What are you looking at?" I smiled at him.

"There is this patch of grass down here that uses only a little bit of sunlight. The best part about it is that there isn't enough sunlight for weeds to grow so the grass isn't itchy. I stepped over to the patch of grass and plopped down. Naruto followed me and sat down next to me.

"This is a lot like my hiding place, except yours is harder to get to. How do people never find this?" I pointed at the hole.

"Poke your head out of that and you will know." He stuck his head out to of the hole and swiftly came back down.

"All I can see is a bunch of rocks." I grinned.

"This place is almost impossible to see. You can't see it from above because it just looks like another rock, and you can only find it by foot if you are looking for it. It looks like a snake hole or a fox's den as well, so no one tries to stick their hand into here." I stopped talking because I was feeling sleepy. Naruto must have become very curious.

"How did you find it?" I sat up. The sadness returned to me. Memories that I had tried to get rid of came with a lot of pain. I started slowly playing with my fingers.

"I came here the night my mother died." I sighed because the pain in my heart pierced through my soul. Naruto looked alarmed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up you don't have to finish that." I smiled weakly back up at him.

"It's alright. What happened was, I came here to escape knowing that all I had left was my cold father. My mother had always been the one that was warm the one that I went to. I remember when she would be getting ready for a formal party; she would dress me up too. That day I just ran. I had no idea where I was going. I used a hair pin to scratch marks on trees that I passed so I could find my way back. When I got here, the pool was right in the ray of the moon. It kind of reminded me about my mother's eyes. I got close to the pool and dipped my arms in. I had no idea how deep it was and once I went a little too far, I fell into the water. I struggled under the water, but I was wearing a kimono in celebration of the birth of Hanabi, and the kimono soaked through. I felt really sleepy after a few minutes, and my eyes closed." I took a breath to steady my heartbeat. I had never told anyone all of this before. Even Hanabi didn't know about this.

"When I woke up, my kimono had caught on a rock and only my head was above water. I dragged myself out of the pool and I was here." I held my arm up to the area around us. Naruto let out a low whistle.

"How did you get out?" I smiled.

"I had learned how to play with water when I was younger. I didn't know where it came from and I never asked why, but I knew enough to extract oxygen from the water. When I got back, my father yelled at me for staying out all night, and for looking so horrible when I came into HIS presence." I smiled at Naruto. "It's been like that since." Naruto looked around.

"I think we all found the good side of pain. If it isn't your fault, there is always a reward. We were all just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He smiled brightly. "I think we will be okay." I started to cry. Tears fell through my eyelids. Naruto seemed sympathetic. He opened his arms for a hug, and I scooted in. He let me cry and sometimes I felt warm drops of water hit my head. When I finally stopped crying, it was almost noon. The sun was shining on the pool and making it a bright blue like Naruto's eyes. I motioned for Naruto to follow me, and I slipped into the water. The first thing I did was form breathing bubbles, and I swam through the wide tunnel. When we popped out of the water, I dried us off and we ran to our houses. At Sakura's, I took a shower and settled down with a cup of green tea. Green tea was my favorite drink, but I never had time to drink it. I suddenly became very tired, so I just dragged myself to bed and quickly fell asleep.

**A/N: Well this one was longer than my usual ones, but I rambled a lot. I couldn't think straight because I have a lot of drama happening with my friends. I will try to do better on my next chapter, though it may be a bit short.**


	8. Chapter 8

School came far too soon. When the day before the first day of school arrived, I was wondering why everyone was so happy. Then I realized that this was eighth grade for everyone. This year we would become ninjas! Even I was starting to get excited. Two days before school had started, I had remembered that the first day of school would be the first day Naruto and I had met. I started to panic, because I had nothing ready for him. When I discussed the matter with my friends, many of them said "Don't worry about it. He will probably forget about it anyway." I thought, 'While it is a possibility that he has forgotten, it would be wrong to know it was coming up and not do anything about it.' With those thoughts, I set to work.

First I went out into the Nara woods and searched for wild hemp (A/N: That is Marijuana plant that is used to make things like jewelry. It is very durable, and therefore makes good keepsakes. NO other references or references to the drug!). After I had collected enough twine, I collected a bunch of branches of lavender just to put into my home. I went into the market and bought two medium sized bottles of lavender oil. I took out all of my hemp and I poured half of a bottle of lavender oil in a bowl. I stuck the hemp into the bowl and put a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl. The bowl went into a closet, and I went shopping for a leather belt.

In the last store I looked into, I found a black belt that had purple studs and I immediately thought of Naruto. I purchased the belt and took it to the leather printer. The leather printer carefully embroidered "Naruto Uzumaki" On the inner side of the belt, and gave it to me in a box. When I finally returned home, I was relieved to see that Sakura had not returned. By that time it was late, and I decided to turn in for the night. The leather belt went into the closet, and I dragged myself over to my bed.

The next morning, I pulled the hemp twine out of the lavender, and used some water molecular distortion to make the scent stay in the twine forever. After hours of braiding and straightening, I was finished with the bracelet. My fingers were raw and slightly bloody, so I put ointment on them and wrapped them in bandages. My school supplies were already ready, and my uniform was out so I just went to bed.

I woke up with a start the next morning, because in the middle of the night I had remembered that the gifts needed to be wrapped. By five in the morning, my uniform was on me and the gifts were wrapped. Finally, I stuck the box into my backpack and took the bandages off my fingers. They were nearly healed, and they just looked a little scratched. Sakura woke up soon after all of my things were ready.

"Good morning!" I thought I sounded really cheerful. Sakura just stared at me. She hid herself in the blankets again.

"Sakura-chan, it's time to get ready for school!" I grabbed her ankles and tugged. She just kicked me away. Finally, I gave up.

"Okay, see you at school." I sighed. I grabbed my bag and walked out the door.

On the way to school, Naruto ran up to me.

"Hi: Hina-chan!" He hugged me. For a few seconds I couldn't feel the ground under my feet. He put me back on the ground and instead took my hand. My face was red, and I was covering my mouth with my sleeve. We walked all the way to school like that. When we finally reached the gated enclosure that was our school, all I was thinking about was giving Naruto his gift. First I pulled his lunch out of my bag and handed that to him. He smiled and took it.

"Thanks. What's bothering you?" I looked at him startled.

"I'm not bothered by something; I just wanted to give you a gift!" He raised one eyebrow. I clasped my hand over my mouth. He smiled brightly.

"I wanted to give you something too!" Out of his pocket he pulled a chain. Fastened on the chain was a ring. The ring was rather large which was probably why it was on a chain. The stone on the chain looked a bit glazed, but it was shaped like a tear drop. Somewhere in the middle of the rock was a streak that flashed the colors of a rainbow in the sunlight. Around the stone was a bunch of little diamonds Naruto handed it to me carefully.

"It's beautiful! Where did you get it?" I lifted the chain over my head.

"I found the piece of sea glass at the beach and I took it to the jewelers to get it fitted for a band. While I was waiting, he convinced me to let him put on the diamonds." I stared open mouthed at him.

"This must have cost a fortune!" He shook his head.

"Not really, the guy was an old friend and he said he owed me a favor. Really, I only paid for the band."

"Thank you!" I hugged him tightly. When I was finished, I pulled his box out of my backpack. "While my gift isn't as good as yours, I hope you like it." He took the box from my hands and carefully opened it. He pulled out the belt inside and smiled.

"Thanks Hina-chan. I was going to go out and buy one, you have perfect timing." He noticed there was still something in the bag. He pulled the bracelet out of the bag. It had grown to an inch in width, and big enough to go around my wrist twice. It was adjustable just in case. He put the bracelet on and sniffed it.

"It smells just like you!" He tugged on the bracelet to make sure it was on correctly. I smiled shyly.

"I used some molecular alteration to make the scent stay in forever. If it gets dirty, throw it into the washer, and the lavender smell will still stay." He stared at me blankly for a few seconds and blinked.

"Once again, is smells like you. Also, I love it" He looked at the bracelet again.

"Is this why your fingers are hurt?" I put my hands behind my back and chewed my cheek.

"M-my h-hands are n-not h-hurt!" I silently cursed my inability to lie.

"Hina-chan, you are lying to me." I put my hands in front of me.

"Yes they are hurt, but it really doesn't matter. I'm happy you liked your gift." I smiled up at him shyly.

"Just promise you won't hurt your hands for me again." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine." The bell rang and school began.

Once again, I was put into all of Naruto's and Tenten's classes. In addition, I was in all of Sakura's classes except for homeroom. In homeroom we were allowed to choose our seats, and Naruto and I chose to sit next to each other in the middle of the classroom. The first thing after that, the rest of the period was just to talk. My entire class was jittery. All of the girls in my group who had boyfriends within the group were on end. The guys in our group were the most sought after boys in our school. Sasuke was still at the top, but unfortunately for me, Naruto was not far behind. A lot of the girls had given up on Sai because admitting their love for him would be committing social suicide courtesy of Ino Yamanaka. Otherwise, Naruto did his best to ignore the girls. A few were bolder then others, so I still carried a toothbrush and toothpaste with me at all times. It really didn't bother me much anymore. As long as Naruto was happy I would be happy. After the Tora incident, I realized that I would give Naruto up if that was what it took for him to be happy. If Ino hadn't yelled at me for being inhuman, and then fighting for me, I would have let Naruto be with Tora.

In all of my thinking, I didn't notice Naruto had received ten love confessions, four boxes of chocolates, and 24 roses. When I finally came to reality, Naruto asked me what to do with the items.

"Eat the chocolates, put the flowers in a vase, and throw the letters in the trash when no one is looking. You can keep them if you want them. Oh, and if you don't mind, give me any origami paper in the letters if you don't want it" He looked at me like I was crazy.

"You're not jealous?" he asked me. I looked at him sideways.

"Why would I be?" He shook his head.

"Never mind." All of our classes were with the same teachers, only on different levels. Tenten was still an awesome mark woman. Each class passed, and in the ones I had with Sasuke, I noticed he was getting a little more attention from girls than Naruto. Then I realized why Naruto had become so popular. His looks had improved. Not that he was ugly before, it was just that he looked, well cuter. 0//_//0 He had become much taller than I was and tanner, let alone his muscles had developed and he simply looked stronger. Even his eyes had become a deeper color. When lunch arrived and I had to get my stuff out of my locker, I found something I had never dreamed of receiving. There was a letter from a secret admirer. I stared at it and stared. Naruto came up behind me and snatched it from my fingers. His eyes skimmed over it, and he threw it in the trash.

"Do you know who gave that to you?" I shook my head. Naruto looked grumpy suddenly. We walked to the cafeteria. Naruto was grumbling about, 'My girlfriend…secret admirers…locker…grrrrrrr." His facial expression was amusing.

"Jealous Naruto-kun?" He looked at me with wide eyes.

"NO!" His old loudmouth behavior returned. I began to laugh. He waited for me to finish laughing and he snickered a little himself.

"Ow, my tummy hurts." I wiped the tears from my eyes and stood up straight. We walked along down the hall to the cafeteria. With the news of a secret admirer, I puffed my big jacket out a little bit more and then we walked in. The cafeteria was crowded, so we were happy that we had lunch boxes. Sakura snatched bits of food from my lunch when I wasn't looking, and Sasuke didn't care if Naruto caught him taking his food. Frankly, I don't think Naruto minded very much. He was sitting so close to my side I thought he was going to push me off the bench. Sakura noticed first.

"What's wrong with you Naruto?" She looked at him with her piercing green eyes.

"Nothing." Sakura looked at me and Naruto groaned. I never was able to keep a very good secret.

"Hinata, do you know what's bugging Naruto?" I looked down at my food.

"N-no." Sakura smiled.

"You're lying to me. Now, why is Naruto upset?" I looked down at the table. Naruto was just sighing.

"I got a note from a secret admirer." Sakura perked up.

"So Naruto's jealous?" She stifled laughter. Ino just laughed.

"I am NOT!" Naruto was yelling again. Sakura just smiled. The discussion ended with that, and we all continued eating. Things were pretty quiet after that.

(three weeks later)

Everyone had heard news about the sannin ninjas Jiriya and Tsunade that were coming to Konoha. They were returning to help protect Konoha from any dangers that might be approaching. People were buzzing, because having such famous ninjas come into our village was a great honor. There were a few people that were not as excited, because they knew that the sannin were originally from our village. A lot of the kids in my class knew that, but we were still excited.

Another reason for excitement was that we all hoped that the sannin were taking apprentices. There was to be a big celebration celebrating the return of the great ninjas. Each clan was allowed to build a stand to showcase their clan's abilities.

There were also a few stands that were not clan based. My family wanted to put up a material stall, and I greatly disliked (a.k.a hated) the idea. I was sick of clothing that you were scared of ripping because of the pricey material. Instead, I felt like putting up a food stall. I asked the Hokage and he told me it was fine. By that time, Naruto had forced me in there so many times; I was allowed to go in and out freely.

I set to work preparing the ingredients for many foods and by the time I had to build my stand, everything was prepared. I went out and Naruto and I built the stand together. The celebration was to start in 20 minutes. I ran back to my home, took a quick shower, and put on comfortable simple clothes. Naruto came to my house just as I was about to wheel my food through my door. He grabbed the handle of the wagon, and we ran off in the direction of the celebration.

Just as we set up the stall, Jiriya and Tsunade came through the gate. The stalls were on either side of the gate, and everyone exploded in applause. The two sannin looked shocked, and then wide grins spread across their faces. The two sannin were immediately surrounded by people. I was smiling alongside Naruto and we waited for the crowd to die down. Once most of the crowd was gone, Naruto really wanted to go meet them. I could tell he wanted to, but he didn't feel right in leaving me alone.

"It's alright Naruto you can go. This is just a food stand; one person can take care of it alone." He hugged me quickly and walked off to talk to the sannin. In the meantime, I was tending on the customers that came buy.

There were not very many people at first, but those people told others and came back. Soon there was a twenty foot long line, and I was glad I had made so much food. In all of the business, I didn't notice when a little girl came by without her mom and grabbed one of my cooking knives by the blade. I did notice, when a loud wail pierced my ears. The little girl had a big cut in her hand. I knelt down and she gave me her hand. We had taken a class on healing, and I knew the basics. I healed her cut, with my odd blue chakra. Other people healed with green chakra, but for some reason, mine was blue. The little girl stopped crying, and her cut was healed in a minute. I wasn't very good at healing, because of my lack of experience. The little girl's mom came and found her. She was clinging onto my apron. I gave the little girl a piece of candy, and she walked off with her mom. I was scared about what I was going to see when I turned back to the stand. When I turned back to my customers, I found Tsunade. She was smiling.

"If you don't mind, could you come by the Hokage's office tomorrow at 12:00 noon." I just nodded. "Great. Can I buy a sake bottle?" I took down a sake bottle from the rack and gave it to Tsunade. She gave me the money, and walked off. The next customer came up, and I smiled again. Finally, Naruto came back to the stand when it was time for the fireworks to go off.

"Sorry I am so late. I got caught up in talking to Jiraiya. He asked me to come over to the Hokage's office tomorrow at noon." My eyes widened.

"That's what Tsunade told me." He chuckled.

"I guess we can go together tomorrow." I laughed. He looked hungry, so I scooped some ramen out of a pot for him. He ate it quickly, but looked like he wanted more.

"You can't have more right now. I have a surprise for you when we all go to Sakura's house after the festival." He smiled at that, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him stuff whole onigiri in his mouth. For fun, I asked him a question, and watched him sweat drop as he tried to answer.

Finally, all of the food was gone, so Naruto and I packed up the stall. We pretty much just burned it, and left. On the way to Sakura's house, Naruto kept on asking me what the surprise was, but because I couldn't lie I didn't say a word.

We were the first to arrive at Sakura's house, so we had to prepare the party ourselves. Suspiciously, the second the preparations were ready, everyone came pouring in. Sakura and Sasuke just came in and sat on the couch. Sai and Ino brought sodas, Shikamaru brought the music, and everyone else pretty much came in. Kiba brought in a dish, but that only lasted about five seconds.

Finally, everyone was on the room, so I went into the kitchen with Tenten and Sakura. They both helped me carry out the first of the party food. I brought out a huge pot filled to the top with ramen. Tenten carried a mountain of onigiri, and Sakura brought out rolls of sushi piled on top of each other. I ran back in and brought out some western style dishes. I found a recipe for pizza. I tried it and thought it tasted good, so I made some for the party.

When the scent reached the noses of our group, everyone's head turned. I passed out one bowl and one plate along with chopsticks to everyone. Then, I let them dig in. The food took a while to finish, but sure enough it was eventually gone. People still looked hungry.

Sakura, Tenten and I all went back into the kitchen. I brought out a ton of crosscut ribs that I made from a random recipe and Tenten brought out a pot of rice. The old dishes went into the kitchen, and I washed them right away. In the meantime, Sakura took out some steamed vegetables. The vegetables went away surprisingly fast, so I replaced them with herbed potatoes. Finally, all of the meat and rice was gone, so the dishes were washed and put away.

Sakura and Tenten were asleep, Sakura on Sasuke's shoulder and Tenten, was in my bed sleeping. I ran into the kitchen one last time, and came out with éclairs on my head, cream puffs on my left hand, and a large pot of tea on my right hand. Thank goodness for chakra enhancement. I was shocked that people actually got up to eat some of the desserts.

People ate slowly, but sure enough the food was finished. Ino fell asleep saying,

"Hinata, you are trying to make me fat." I washed the last of the dishes, and pulled out my own party food. It was just the odds and ends of the food I had made. Some burned stuff from the herbed potatoes, a wimpy vegetable from the steamed vegetables, a bit of soup, a slightly charred rib, a toasted éclair, and a flat cream puff. On the side was a little bowl of rice and a glass of water. Naruto woke up, and sat next to me. His nose crinkled when he saw what I was eating. I crinkled my nose back, and continued eating.

He left my side momentarily, and came back with a plate of good vegetables, a tender rib, and a bowl of rice. On his right hand there was cold can of soda, a few herbed potatoes, and a slice of pizza. His other hand held a little bowl with some warm ramen, and in his teeth he held a bag with what I guessed was éclairs and cream puffs.

He put all of the food down in front of me and I just stared.

"I figured you were going to do that to yourself. You never think of yourself do you Hina-chan?" I grabbed a vegetable and commenced in chewing it. I was happy with the way it tasted.

"It was sweet of you to save all of this for me, but do you really think I can eat it all?" He looked at all of the food, then he looked at me. He shook his head.

"Here help." I handed him the ramen bowl and the slice of pizza. He took it, and it was gone soon. I laughed. "If you are still hungry, I can make you something." He shook his head.

"I'm not hungry. I don't know how anyone could be hungry with all of the food you made." I continued eating. Naruto seemed thoughtful.

"What do you think the sannin want with us?" I stopped eating, I chewed the food in my mouth (LOL I hope so), and swallowed.

"I don't know. I don't think we did anything wrong. I suppose we'll find out what is happening tomorrow." Naruto just nodded.

"Should I go home, or do I have to leave so Sakura doesn't beat me up?" I looked around at the people littering the floor of Sakura's living room.

"I really don't think it would matter if you stayed. Where you would stay is the question." I looked around, and decided that he could stay in my room. I had stayed at Sakura's so many times, that I had my own room.

"Follow me." I led him through the doors, until we reached my room. I offered him the bed, but he blatantly refused. I was allowed to keep my bed. I set out some cushions on the floor for a makeshift bed.

"Wait here for a little. I will be right back." I ran into Sakura's room and pulled out the Sasuke clothes she had hidden in her drawer. I had no idea why she had the clothes, but I took them back to Naruto.

"Here Naruto-kun. I'm sorry they are such dark colors." He looked at the clothes in my hand.

"Why do you have Sasuke-teme's clothes?" He looked alarmed. I giggled.

"I don't know. You have to ask Sakura that one." I handed him the bundle. "That is where the shower is." I pointed at the door across from my room. He walked in, and closed the door behind him. After ten minutes, he came out and I stepped into the room. My shower was quick, and I pulled on a full outfit. Over my undergarments, I wore a soft cotton shirt that was very baggy, and baggy sweat pants. I pulled the string tight, and walked out. Naruto was still on the floor waiting.

"Naruto-kun, you should rest. I pushed off almost all of the blankets except for a sheet, and they landed on Naruto's head. "Goodnight!" He dug himself out and lay down on the floor.

"Goodnight, Hina-chan." Soon after those words I heard snoring, and I presumed he was asleep. My breathing started to slow down, and soon, I was asleep.

The next morning, was awkward. When I woke up, Naruto had his arm hooked around my waist, and my sheets were wrapped around my legs. Naruto was still fast asleep, and I almost screamed. I struggled to get free, but his grip simply tightened. Finally, I was too tired to keep on struggling. I just rested waiting for him to wake up. A few times he stirred, but only to turn on his side, and each time I turned with him. He sneezed once, and his grip suddenly squeezed the air out of me. To say the least, it hurt. The whole situation reminded me of when Naruto had been knocked out by the brain washing Tora had done.

Finally, he opened his eyes, one eye at a time. First he looked at me through his left eye, then through his right eye. Suddenly his eyes shot open, and he released me. I was a little above the floor when he let go, so I fell. The air once again left me.

"I am soooo sorry. That's the second time I've done that. This time I even dropped you. Please don't hurt me." I looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Why would I hurt you Naruto-kun?" He peeked from behind his hands.

"You're not mad at me?" I shook my head. He sighed with relief.

"I'm glad." His smile returned, and we were both happy. Then, I looked at the clock. It was 11. We both only had one hour to get ready. We stared at the clock, and suddenly jumped into action. I washed Naruto's clothes with my water jutsu, and then dried the clothes the same way. I handed him the orange wardrobe, and he ran into the shower. I set out my own clothes, and ran into the shower right after he came out. I took a shower in three minutes, and put on my clothes. We ran into the kitchen, and I heard his stomach grumble. I pulled some leftovers from the refrigerator, and tossed him his half. The food didn't even make it out of the door.

We reached the Hokage's office just in time. We had just walked in through the door when Tsunade and Jiraiya came in through the door. Tsunade immediately started speaking. I stood up and bowed respectfully, while Naruto just waved.

"You two have been selected to under go training under one of us. Jiraiya has already chosen his student, but I have two candidates. One who is here because of talent and another who is here because of talent and coming to me with a monetary proposition. I will be having a contest between my two contestants to see who will be the more valuable apprentice. I guess now is a good time for you to meet her."

Tsunade gestured to a door in the back, and Tora came stepping in. She stepped lightly, trying to look as beautiful as possible. She turned to me first.

"I am sure a respectable Hyuuga would never use money to gain a position against a poor Yamanaka." The comment hurt. I however, didn't have the courage to say anything back. Luckily for me, Naruto was there.

"Hina-chan could beat you in anything with just her skills!" She ignored his comment; instead she asked a question in return.

"Naruto-kuuuuun, do you like my hair color." She held up her curly hair. It had gone from the Yamanaka platinum to Naruto's sunny yellow color. Naruto was caught off guard by the question, and being unable to be rude to a girl, he just said,

"It looks nice." The comment almost sounded like a question. Tsunade suddenly clapped her hands.

"The contest begins now; you two will be evaluated not just on your skills, but your personalities, and at the end, your strength in the battlefield. A medic nin must be able to protect themselves." I suddenly felt hope. It would make me so happy to become a medic ninja. I just hoped Tora wouldn't take this away from me as well.

On my way to my home, I saw a kitten walking in the street it looked so hungry, I couldn't leave it there. I scooped up the kitten carefully, and was happy when it didn't try to scratch me. I started with the kitten to Sakura's home. On my way back to Sakura's house, I saw Tora. She was walking rather happily, but a lost looking puppy came up to her and started to follow her around.

The dog came right to her ankles, and Tora ignored it. Finally, she looked around to make sure no one was watching, and she kicked the puppy away. She left running. It hurt me so much to watch that little puppy get hurt. I ran over to it, and though at first it was scared, it let me pick it up. The kitten and dog didn't fight. When I got to Sakura's house, I gave whole milk to both the puppy and the kitten. Then I gave a piece of fish to the kitten, and a piece of steak to the puppy.

The animals ate ravenously, and soon the food was gone. Once they were finished, they cuddled up together and started to sleep. In the meantime, I made lost kitten and puppy fliers. I stuck one on every post on my street, and went back to Sakura's house.

Much to my dismay, the owner of the puppy came by and picked up the puppy. The little dog seemed happy. Luckily for me, the kitten stayed with me and I had always wanted a cat. The kitten was surprisingly friendly. The day was coming to a close, so I got ready for bed. Sakura was staying at Ino's house, so I had the house basically to myself.

I set my alarm to ring at 7 a.m. because at 8 a.m. I had to meet Tsunade and Tora at the Hokage's office. We were to have our skills measured. Then after that, we had a fight. I was scared, never had I fought someone for nothing more than training. Now I was fighting for the position of my dreams. Besides that, if Tora won, she would be able to spend much more time with Naruto. That was probably the scariest thought out of all of them.

In the morning, I woke to feel wiggling in my blanket. I pulled the blanket up to find my kitten. She looked at me, blinked, and lay next to me. I pulled the blankets over her, but got out of bed. After showering and everything, I was ready to go. The kitten didn't want to be left behind, so she attached herself to my shoulder. I let her get into my jacket with her head popping out. She seemed to like it there. When she needed to go to the restroom, she pawed at my zipper, and I let her out. She was a very well behaved kitten.

Outside of Sakura's house, Naruto was waiting for me. When he saw me he smiled, when he saw the kitten, he took a double take.

"Is that a cat?" I petted the little kitten on the nose.

"Yup, her name is Miki-chan, isn't she cute?" I held the little kitten up to him. He petted the kitten and Miki-chan licked his finger. He automatically fell for her, and the kitten rode on his head the rest of the way. Occasionally, Miki-chan would jump onto my shoulder and into my jacket to get warm, but after that she promptly went back to Naruto.

At the Hokage's office, we found Tsunade and Jiraiya with Tora already there.

"Hello. I am glad to see you are right on time." Tsunade was the first to speak. "Now we can begin our contest. First, we will have and evaluation of skills. Please step up to your platform." I handed Miki to Naruto, and walked up to the platform. Tsunade gave me an odd look. "Now you will heal an animal that has a few torn muscles." Someone brought us each an animal with some sort of limp limb. Tora and I began at the same time, but Tora seemed to know what to do. I tried to do what I could, and my animal was up and walking a few seconds after Tora's was. "The winner of this round is Tora." I didn't feel upset. I just simply smiled shyly at Tora. She scowled back.

Thankfully, Naruto and Jiraiya were in a different room or else Naruto would probably have been yelling about Tora cheating. I had no idea why, but Tora seemed to have had lessons. Tsunade spoke suddenly. "Next you will have to fix an animal's broken limb." Someone brought out an animal that seemed to be in increasing pain. For some weird reason, my animal looked to be in worse condition. I began repairing the damage, and used my weird chakra to numb the bone first. Then, I set the limb and mended the bone as well as I could. The bone would easily break again, if the animal didn't rest, but that was the way broken bones were fixed.

Once again, I finished a little after Tora, but her animal seemed to be in a lot of pain. I thought she just reset it without putting the animal to sleep with some sort of jutsu first. "The winner of this match is Tora as well. Next you must save a dying animal." A man brought out two dying animals, and set them on our tables. Once again my animal seemed to be worse off. I set to work as soon as I could, but I was unsure and scared I would do something wrong. I started healing at the heart, and kept one hand there to keep the heart pumping. Then I went to the veins and repaired the ones that were torn. I fixed two broken bones, and three dislocated joints. The heart stayed pumping the entire time, and the animal was healed. I finished after Tora once again, and her animal looked fine.

"The winner is Tora." I felt disappointed, but not enough to give up. "Follow me." Tsunade began walking through a hall, and I followed right after. At the end of the hall was a door, and in that door was an arena. "This is where you will be fighting.

The arena had no trees and was apparently for hand to hand combat. Tora shoved by me first, and then I stepped out. Tora had already chosen where she wanted to start from, so I took the opposing side of the arena. Tsunade signaled for us to start. Tora made the first move and trapped my feet with an earth jutsu. I tore my legs from the ground, and used chakra stilts to keep from getting grabbed again.

Tora pulled disks of rock out of the ground and threw them at me at different intervals. The first two were easy to dodge, and I stayed on my stilts, bit the last two shot at my neck and head. If I jumped off, she would trap my legs. At the last moment, I held my body up on my hands using Ino's strategy. The disks whizzed past my legs. I balanced on one hand and shot chakra spikes back. One spike missed, but one cut her face.

The second Tora saw her blood, she went crazy. Disks came faster and faster. My arm and my legs were hit, and felt numb.

More disks flew at my body so I crossed my arms in front of me and waited for the impact. Instead, I heard a rubber like bounce. I opened my eyes slowly, and when I opened my eyes, I was shocked. In front of me, there was a large blue shield made out of my blue chakra. The shield seemed to move with my left hand. Tora was still in shock, so I used the opportunity to attack. I created at least fifty different spikes, and shot them at Tora. Tora stood frozen. I stopped the spikes right before they hit. Each spike was pointed at a chakra point. I looked at Tsunade, and she called the match.

"The winner is Hinata Hyuuga. Now, we must have an overall count of points. The person who won the match may or may not win the over all apprenticeship." Tsunade began walking through a hall. I followed right after Tora, and we arrived in a room. In the room besides a projector and charts were Jiraiya and Naruto. Naruto smiled widely, while I just smiled shyly, and blushed. Tora came between Naruto and I, and Naruto was held up momentarily. Miki-chan came out of nowhere and began mewing by my feet. I picked her up and she slipped into my jacket. Tsunade cleared her throat and we all turned to listen. "I have gathered all of the information I need, and the evaluation will begin. We will look at your overall skills and I will decide who deserves to be my apprentice. First, we will look at the skills. She pulled out a large chart, and on it were statistics. My bar of speed was lower than Tora's, but effect was better on one. All of the others were won by Tora. Next were the statistics of the battle. I had won, but Tora had also shown skill.

"We had one more test that neither of you were aware of. We have film of the situation." The projector began to work, and a picture formed on the white screen. I saw myself finding the kitten, and immediately picking it up. I also saw Tora kicking the puppy away, and once again I came and picked it up. The film took me to Sakura's home, and later on a man coming to pick up the dog.

The film ended there, and Tora looked upset. Tsunade wrote one name on a piece of paper, and posted it onto a nearby bulletin board. "Hinata Hyuuga." My mouth dropped. I just stared at the words. I had won the contest. For the first time in my life, I had won something. Naruto hugged me tightly.

"You did it Hina-chan." Tora just fumed. On her way by me, she pinched my arm. The sting reminded me of Kyouko, but I stuck it out and tried not to act hurt. The pain really didn't hurt much. Naruto however, hated the thought. He started barging after Tora. I set up a chakra shield in front of him, but he saw it too late and bumped into it. He looked up at me, but I just shook my head. He got up off of the floor and just held my hand.

"Let's go to Ichiraku's." Naruto instantly brightened, and we went to eat. I for once, did not have to cook.

On the way to Ichiraku's, I healed up the rest of my wounds, and began to play with my chakra. For some reason, I didn't feel like I was losing any chakra, and instead, the chakra was returning to my body. I made a shield, and played with the shape. Naruto just looked at me curiously. When we finally reached Ichiraku's I only got one bowl. Naruto had five bowls lined up and he finished them all before I finished my first. He waited for me to finish mine, and when I finally did, he jumped off the stool. Naruto forked over the little money he had in his pocket and I felt bad. While Naruto wasn't looking, I handed the owner enough money for five more Naruto meals. He seemed to understand, so I walked away. Naruto wouldn't have to pay for his next five meals. Naruto walked me to Sakura's house, where he gave me a hug and left quickly. I went into the house, and locked the door. Suddenly, a snake like creature came flying out of the darkness. I created a shield, but I slid back a bit.

On the ground was Tora, but she looked serpentine once again. She charged me again, but her humanity was mostly gone. After a few more attacks, I felt my Chakra increase. My body was enveloped in the blue energy. My instincts told me to get on my hands and feet. Claws grew out of my hands, and my teeth grew out. Sakura appeared in the doorway, but quickly ran out after seeing me. I felt the ears on the side of my head disappear, and my face took on a pointed shape. The muscles in my legs coiled, and I jumped at Tora. She fought back, but I had her pinned to the floor in minutes. I pressed her chakra points, and she stayed on the ground unconscious.

I staggered into a standing position, and walked out to Sakura. The exhaustion I felt was not similar to chakra exhaustion, more like my muscles became too tired to work.

"Get her to the Hokage, and have her arrested." The words escaped my mouth slowly. I felt my chakra ebb, and my transformations disappear as I fell into darkness.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital room but everything looked funny to me. I noticed right away that something was not right. When I tried to get up, I knew what was wrong. My hands had become paws, and I had fur all over. I just looked like a giant wolf. A yelp escaped my mouth and Sakura came running in.

It was hard to speak, but I managed to move my tongue around the right way in order to make sounds.

"Sakura…what happened to me!" Sakura laughed nervously.

"When you used all of your weird chakra, it activated the jinchuuriki inside of you. Apparently, the world needed a new jinchuuriki. After all, the others have been wiped out recently by another unknown force. It's kind of weird though, the Jinchuuriki didn't have to be sealed inside you. It just took you as a host. This transformation is temporary because it is only an after affect of using the chakra. It should be gone soon. At least, that's what the Hokage said." I was scared to say the least, and I was breathing hard. Who wouldn't if they just found out they were a giant wolf in disguise. Finally, I settled down a bit and just had a headache.

"Oh what do I do?! A Jinchuuriki! My dad will disown me for sure." Sakura smiled.

"He actually already came over, and said it was fine. He said that it would only add to your leadership qualities." I breathed a sigh of relief. My ears hurt, and my nose was sore. Everything was coming at me so strong, and some things smelled horrible. My nose picked up on a familiar smell. I stood up on the hospital bed. In through the door barged Naruto. He looked at me shocked.

"Now I've seen it all! My girlfriend is a wolf!!!" His loud voice hurt my ears. I curled up to block out the loud voice. Naruto was suddenly silenced by a hit to his head.

"Baka, don't you understand how sensitive her ears are?! You're hurting her!" She was whispering sharply.

"I'm sorry Hina-chan." I looked above the fluffy tail that was covering my eyes. He patted my head because he didn't know what else to do. After a few seconds, both Sakura and Naruto started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Naruto was trying to stifle laughter.

"When I was petting your head *laugh*, you started to wag your t-tail *laugh*." I felt indignant.

"It's not that funny." They just laughed harder. Finally, they stopped laughing. Naruto turned to me.

"Sooooo, what do we do about this?" He turned to Sakura. "How long will it last?"

"This will probably last about two days. She will be staying at my house until then. Of course, she's always at my house, but now she is going to be on house arrest minus the torture, and she can have her closest friends visit." I grumbled. Then I thought of something.

"What do I do when I get hungry? How do I eat?" Sakura looked regretful.

"You either learn how to eat like a dog or you starve." I just sighed.

"Would you like to see what you look like?" I nodded my head. Speaking was still tiresome. Sakura held a mirror up to my face, and I was slightly shocked.

My fur was a shiny midnight blue color, and my eyes were the pale lavender all Hyuuga had. Except for one thing, I had pupils. They were black, but I had never seen them with the Hyuuga eye color. It was a shock. My eyes were wolf-like and almond shaped, but they did not have the steely look wild wolves had. I looked down to see what my paws were like. They were muscular at the top, and narrowed down to tiny joints, and opened to dainty little paws. All in all, I looked like a wolf that belonged in a fairy tale. Great.

"Naruto-kun, have you ever turned into a fox?" The thought was just nagging at my mind.

"Actually, yes I have. It only lasted a little while, because I had been through transformations, but now I can be a fox at will." His body bent over, and his face elongated and he grew a tail. He was soon a giant fox, a bit larger than I was, and I was a pretty big wolf. I sat down, and Naruto sat down next to me. We took that moment to turn to Sakura and turn our heads to the side. She took a picture. Naruto turned back to a human, and I felt sad. I was now alone in this twisted world of a newborn Jinchuriki.

"Hinata, you have to rest. The first transformation back will hurt so you have to rest. Just in case the transformation happens tonight. I don't know for sure but it might" Sakura was preparing my stuff for my resting time.

"What did it feel like when you turned back Naruto-kun?" He just looked down at my question.

"I was attacked by some drunken villagers, and they beat me unconscious. When I woke up, I was back to my human form. I don't know what the first return feels like. Sorry Hina-chan." I smiled shyly.

"Well, Hinata has to start resting now in order to feel the least amount of pain so out Naruto." She practically kicked him out. He just waved and left. I settled into the blankets and pillows, and fell asleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I started screaming. There was excruciating pain throughout my body. The fur came off of my body and disappeared, leaving a burning sensation. My paws became hands and feet again, but I felt every bone move. My gums felt sore as my canine teeth retracted into my jaw. My ears disappeared leaving me with a massive headache. Then the worst came. The tail retracted into my spine, and there were painful shockwaves rattling my body. My spine straightened out, and I heard crackling and snapping. My neck snapped into the normal position, and I was back to myself. Sakura came in to hold my hand for comfort.

My breathing slowed, and I fell back asleep. The darkness was welcome after all of the pain.

In the morning, the first faces I saw belonged to Naruto and Sakura. They were each holding one of my hands. I smiled and tried to get up, but the soreness in my body kept me down. I got halfway up, and yelped. Naruto put his hand on the back of my neck and Sakura held me up with my hands.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be so weak." Sakura just smiled.

"It's alright, just rest right now." I laid back down and she began soothing my sore muscles. She did a good job, but when she moved away, I was still sore. I took a fraction of my chakra and used it to sooth my muscles. Ears popped on my head and I immediately stopped my chakra use.

"I really don't think I should use any chakra until I have all of it restored. Sakura explained the situation.

"It's not that you are low on chakra, it's just that your body is still getting used to the jinchuuriki chakra. You should try talking to it." I turned my head.

"How exactly, do I so that." Naruto stepped in instead of Sakura.

"You concentrate a bit of chakra into your mind and see what happens." I closed my eyes and tried to think about channeling my chakra. A tail appeared, but I continued and soon I was in my head. Inside of my mindscape, it was a snowy forest. Standing on top of a snowy hill was a large wolf. She was feminine and pretty. She just watched me as if beckoning me to come closer. I came to her side.

"Sit down my dear." The wolf had a gentle voice that made me feel comforted.

"Hinata, you have become a Jinchuuriki. How does that feel?" I looked at my feet.

"I feel stronger in some ways, but more vulnerable in others. Why did you choose me?" The wolf seemed to smile.

"You needed me. A child who had no real comfort in her own home, and did not have the strength to stand up for herself. You looked so fragile, and you reminded me of myself when I was younger. I was not strong until someone discovered me and helped me discover myself. I also needed you. A good person who would not blame me for taking part of there lives from them" I thought for a moment.

"Are we two different people, or are we part of each other?" She smiled.

"We are part of each other. Just like your friend Naruto is now one with my old friend Kyuubi. What a dear friend. Naruto is also special to you isn't he?" I blushed and nodded. My wolf giggled.

"I can tell." My blush only deepened. Does that mean I can become a wolf at will and without any pain? The wolf nodded.

"You should go now. Your friends are calling you. By the way, now that you know you are part of me, chakra usage won't turn you into a wolf. Oh and you will have a surprise on your wrist when you get out." I nodded. I was about to walk towards a light, but I turned back.

"If you are part of me, I have to know your name." She smiled.

"Watashi wa Yuki." A wind pushed me into the light and I was out. Sakura was there. I immediately looked at my wrist. On my wrist was what looked like a tattoo, it was colored and in the shape of a wolf. The fur was blue, but some markings were white. The eyes were almond shaped and piercing. I smiled.

"Whoa you have one too." Naruto had spoken out first.

"I have one too?" He nodded and rolled up his sleeve. On the shoulder that had not been injured by the village beatings he had a tattoo like mine except it was of a fox and it was auburn. Our tattoos looked like night and day. His was day and mine was night. I laughed at the little analogy. I couldn't wait until I got to go out try my new chakra enhancements.

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I can never think of really good ideas. I hope you liked this chapter. I still haven't gotten any reviews about whether or not another member of Hinata's group should have a crush on her and who. Please continue to read and review. **


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of the year came quickly after that. Even though I was scared that Naruto was going to be stolen from me, Naruto reassured me that he would never leave me. A few times the attempts were very bold, but he just turned the other way and dragged me off in another direction. That made me happy and proud, but it also made me the second most hated girl in Konoha. At least I was by the teenage population. I was only second to Sakura, but no one told her to her face. People targeted me because they thought I was weak. I would never hurt them, but I carefully kept alert and luckily, my shield came in handy a lot of times.

If I were to collect all of the various items that had been thrown at me, I could start a store. Naruto was almost always with me trying as hard as he could to protect me. However, he could not keep me safe forever and I was often attacked when he was not with me.

What ended up happening was; Naruto and I were walking through the alleys trying not to get attacked by villagers or fan girls, when 10 fan girls attacked us. One threw a poisoned senbon at me but Naruto took the weapon for me. At first I was scared, but I soon realized that even though the poison was strong, Naruto's immune system was better, and he would only be asleep for five minutes.

More girls came at me, but I was scared and worried so I attacked. I had my hands in front of me protectively and I did not even realize it. The girls must have taken that as an invitation to come closer. My chakra stretched out and grabbed al of the girls. I was scared and all I did was move my hands and the girls were suspended in the air. I squeezed the air out of them and then put them down. While they were all gasping for breath, I grabbed Naruto with my chakra and took him to his apartment.

On the way there he asked me if I wanted to stay there and I said yes. I was still worried about the poison. He was a bit tipsy when I got him home so I decided to check his motor skills. Tsunade had taught me a lot so I quickly checked his brain and then I went to his injury. I cleared out the poison and closed the wound. The Kyuubi seemed to be tipsy too because he did not fix Naruto up as fast as usual.

When I was done, I soothed his muscles with my chakra. My chakra also had cooling properties that I didn't understand. I could also heat a muscle up if I needed to. After about a minute, he was asleep so I had to drag him to his bed. It really was not that hard, but I felt bad because his home was tiny. I decided that I would ask my dad for an advance on my allowance for the next three months. That would be enough to buy a small house. Though I was ashamed of it, my allowance was not a small sum.

Especially when that I was living away from home, my allowance was enough to pay for the entire Haruno family for the entire month. Money was not a problem. The problem was what I needed the money for. I could never tell my father that I needed money to buy a home for my boyfriend. As far as my dad knew, I still thought boys were gross. I found a comfortable place to sleep on the floor, and quickly fell asleep. I knew I was going to need it.

In the morning, the first thing I did was head over to my home. At the gate, the guards all looked at me strangely.

"It has been a while Hinata-sama." I smiled and continued to walk through. Over my shoulder I yelled,

"Yes it has. You guys can drop the sama." They looked shocked. I realized why. Before, all I would do to a comment like that was look down and nod my head. I had grown more outspoken.

I entered the house laughing. Inside, nothing much had changed. Hanabi had changed a lot however. She had grown much taller, and she looked slightly angry. Out of no where, she threw shurikens at me. They all bounced harmlessly off my shield.

"Shame on you, Hanabi-chan, to be throwing things at your sister like a child. I thought you had grown." She stared at me with her mouth hanging open. She was probably shocked because I had never been able to block one of her attacks and also because I had made fun of her. If I was still my old self, I would have ended up in the infirmary. I picked up the shuriken and took them with me to Father's office.

Inside, I bowed respectfully to Father and him the shurikens.

"I think Hanabi-chan should be more careful with the toys she plays with." He took the shuriken and tossed them aside.

"I can sense you have become stronger in mind and body." He bowed slightly to me. "I am proud of you Hinata." My heart stopped. Father had never said that to me. A wide smile spread across my face, but I tried to hide it.

"Thank you very much Father." I knew I would not be able to ask him for money now. "I was just checking up on how you were doing. I should go now." I was going out of the door, when he called me back.

"Hinata, I think you might need this. He gave me a check for $250,000. I was shocked. Even for my family, this was a lot. I bowed and exited as quickly as possible. As soon as I was off the estate, I went to cash the check. Then, I went house shopping.

By the beginning of summer, I had found a house. The owner took $250,000 for the home, and I still had enough to live on for the month. I was extremely excited the day I was going to show Naruto his home and it was his 15th birthday. I wouldn't be turning 15 until the summer in between freshman year and sophomore year. He had no idea why I wanted to take him away from his bed before 2 pm. I blindfolded him and dragged him a few blocks down. Finally, we reached his new home. I walked in first holding his hands so he wouldn't fall. Inside, I told him to take off his shoes. After his shoes were of, I unwrapped his blindfold. He blinked a few times, and when he saw the house, his mouth dropped.

"Wow, your house is really awesome. You have got to let me come over and we can watch TV on this huge TV. set." I immediately started laughing.

"This isn't my house Naruto." He looked at me curiously. "It's your house." His jaw dropped to the floor.

"This huge, awesome house is mine?" I nodded my head. I didn't think that jumping off walls was possible, but Naruto defied gravity.

"This is the best present anyone could ever give me. Thank you so much Hina-chan." He hugged me around the waist and spun me around. That was much to my surprise, and I got a bit dizzy. Naruto began running around the rooms.

"There are two rooms! They're both HUGE!!!! This bed is so comfy. The kitchen is so clean!" Naruto was running around commenting on everything and I was laughing along. Finally, he just lay down on the floor.

"This completely killed your next five birthday presents you know. What the hell do you get for your ultra rich girlfriend? I'm sure you could freakin buy the whole village." I was picking him up and dragging him to his room. It had gotten dark quickly, and we were both tired. I put him into his bed and he fell asleep quickly. Suddenly, he called out.

"Hina-chan?" I turned around to face him. He was standing up. He grabbed me by my shoulders and lightly kissed me on the lips. If it had not been on my lips I wouldn't have felt it. He lay back down and was asleep in seconds. It was my first real kiss. Yes, Naruto and I had been together for a long time, but he held back because he knew how uncomfortable I could get. I grabbed a fleece blanket and walked into the bedroom next door. I covered up, and almost as quickly as Naruto, I was asleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard a crash come from Naruto's room. I ran in and immediately was on guard. In the room was a cloud ninja. Naruto was on the ground passed out with a dart sticking out of his neck. Long strings suddenly shot out at me and tied my hands to the wall behind me. I tried to form a shield, put only sputtering blue light appeared. The cloud ninja looked not too much older than Naruto or I. He spoke with a middle-deep voice.

"My you've grown pretty Hina-hime. Do you remember my dad? The one who tried to kidnap you first? Well, now it was my turn to try." He stepped closer and closer. I struggled against the bindings but they wouldn't come of. Rough lips crashed onto mine, and I only struggled harder. I bit down on his lip and he reeled back.

"Bad move Hina-hime." He tried to make me face him, but he stopped when Naruto started to move. "Time to go." He bound my wrists and ankles with the strange rope he slammed his fingers onto my seal, and I just passed out from lack of oxygen.

**Normal POV**

A month passed, and the Hokage sent troop after troop of people to find the young Hyuuga heiress. Naruto was restrained, and each time a different person was sent out, the complaints would get worse. Finally, eight groups were sent out and none of them came back with anything, so Sarutobi decided to let Naruto go.

"Naruto, you may choose up to eight people to accompany you. They can all be of your own selection. You have one week to find the victim, and report back here. Good luck."

Naruto bowed and jumped out of the window. He had to pick up a few people.

After a good twenty minutes, Naruto had assembled his team. Naruto had chosen Hinata's cousin Neji, Ino, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Kiba. Naruto had started to dislike Kiba because Kiba had been developing a crush on Hinata since before Naruto and Hinata started dating. However, Naruto needed Kiba for his tracking abilities. They set out immediately, knowing that Sarutobi thought they wouldn't find Hinata in a week. After all, they were still only academy students. Shikamaru had the game plan ready within seconds, and everyone headed off towards the cloud village. At the border of the land that belonged to the cloud ninja, everyone stopped. There were traps all around the perimeter. Neji used his Byakugan to see the traps. Ino was flexible enough to get through the traps with pure acrobats, and though Tenten wasn't as flexible, she got through the traps with Ino leading the way. On the other side, Tenten dismantled every trap within minutes. She took her pick of the weapons that were on the traps, and put them away.

The group proceeded through the misty forest. They finally reached a small village after a few hours. There was one cell that had five guards at the door. Every now and then, one would go inside, but would come running out with a bruise or scratches. Everyone waited for Shikamaru to think something up.

"Ino, do a mind transfer and figure out how to take everyone out from there. Everyone else, disable everyone who opposes us. Naruto, you go find out what is in that cell. Tenten is long range so she can stay here with Ino's body." Everyone nodded, and Ino crumpled to the floor. The second Tenten caught Ino, one guard stood up straighter.

"What's up with you?" The guard next to him asked. The guard attacked and brought down all of the guards there within seconds. Ino returned to her body.

"What about the man you just occupied?" Ino held up her hand and counted down with her fingers.

'Five, four, three, two, one.' After a short amount of panic, the man fell to the floor unconscious. Ino was shaking with what appeared to shake with anger.

"What's wrong Ino?" Tenten was slightly worried.

"I heard what that disgusting piece of trash was thinking." She looked furious.

"What was he thinking?" Ino glared at the man.

"He was thinking about when he was going to get to get his turn in the cell. Tenten looked puzzled. "Tenten, Hinata is in the cell." Tenten cussed and threw out ammo. The weapons landed dangerously close to the men, pinning them to the ground by their clothes.

Soon, all of the camp was knocked out. Naruto took the opportunity to find out what was in the cell. Inside, it was horribly dark. He stepped closer to a crumpled figure on the floor. A foot came flying at him, but he dodged. The foot only left him with a scrape across his cheek. He was striking back, but with a flash of light he saw a scared, pale face. It was Hinata.

"Hina-chan, it's okay. It's me, Naruto." He held out his hand. Hinata didn't take it. His heart burned painfully. Was she angry that he couldn't protect her? Naruto picked her up gently, and was relieved that she didn't struggle. Instead, she tried to get closer. Outside in the light, he saw why she couldn't take his hand. There was a broken shackle on one of her wrists, and her hands were covered in an odd sap. She couldn't move them very much, and it looked like it would hurt to move them. Naruto was horrified at how skinny she was. He could feel her bones through the thin tunic that she was wearing. Naruto kept his arm under her neck and she just relaxed.

**Hinata's POV**

I was so scared at first. I didn't know if it was one of those guards trying to get me to like them, so I attacked. They had put some weird mixture on my hands that neutralized my abilities. Then they shackled me and made me eat their food. I refused to eat, and so I became skinnier. It felt so good to have Naruto's warmth near me. I just relaxed in his arms. Soon, I passed out from shear exhaustion. I could not wait to get home.

The entire trip home, Naruto carried Hinata. Everyone offered to carry Hinata for a while, but Naruto refused. Finally, they reached Konoha. The first place they went to was the infirmiry for a diagnostic test. Chiyo from Suna had come to make sure the Heiress had not brought back any poisons with her. She immediately recommended the ingredients needed to get the sap off. The ingredients were provided, and Hinata soaked her hands. The entire time, Naruto was there, and no body except for doctors got near Hinata. The last of the sap came away revealing Hinata's hands. They were raw, and looked slightly mangled. She stretched out her fingers wincing at the slight pain. Her fingers were bony and long. She folded her hands, and laid back down thanking the people that were there.

Then, a female seal specialist came in and tried to kick Naruto out. She didn't win, and had to stick with Naruto going to stand next to the door. The lady lifted Hinata's shirt a little above her seal. A link of it looked cut off. It was the part that kept Hinata's demon connected to her. The Lady quickly fixed the seal, and Hinata gasped for air. Hinata's breathing calmed as the lady walked out. Her job was finished.

After one week, Hinata was finally allowed to return home. She still hadn't gained any wait, no matter how much food she ate. It just appeared her body stayed that skinny. However, Hinata did look healthier, and she had developed a bit more muscle. Ino, Sakura, Naruto, and Tenten walked home with Hinata. Naruto and Hinata were finally going to tell Hiashi Hyuuga that they were dating. Both were scared, but tried not to show it. When the guards saw Naruto, they looked nervous. Hinata just walked right by them and Naruto was at her heels.

Inside, Naruto saw Hanabi for the first time. He had to admit that she was pretty, but she looked like one of the stick up the a-ahem Hyuuga's. When Hanabi saw Hinata enter, she prepared more weapons, took aim and fired. She had no idea why Hinata did not make a move to catch or block the stars. When a muscular tan arm caught each one, she realized why. Naruto walked in right after looking for who had thrown the stars, Hanabi's eyes widened. Hinata had never been close friends with a boy her entire life. Let alone had one over. Naruto looked at Hanabi, his angry expression softened slightly, but he was still angry.

"Don't throw things at your sister." The shuriken landed harmlessly on the floor. Hinata turned to the people at the door.

"Calm down everyone, it's just my brat of a sister. You can go to my room and wait. This should only take a while." Hanabi looked into the doorway. In the doorway were three girls. One was cracking her knuckles, another had glowing blue eyes and the third had weapons adorning her fingers. Hanabi was shocked. When had her sister become so admired. She was even more dismayed when Hinata grabbed the blonde boy's hand and led him into her father's office.

INSIDE

Hinata and Naruto bowed to Hiashi respectfully. He looked wary.

"Yes, daughter?" Hinata looked him in the eye. Naruto could see that she was actually shaking with fear.

"We would like permission to date openly." Hinata bowed right after the request. Her hair spilled over her shoulder. Naruto was having trouble meeting Hiashi's eyes. Hiashi seemed to be thinking things over.

"I trust you enough in your choices. I would like to have a word with this young man. You may go Hinata." Hinata bowed, and walked out. Once Hinata was outside, Naruto turned back to Hiashi. Hiashi had a cold look in his eyes. Naruto bowed quickly. "I am fine with this as long as you never hurt my daughter. If you do, I will make sure that she can never see you again. There is no changing my mind if you ever slip up." Hiashi bowed slightly, and Naruto all but ran out of the room.

Outside, he found Hinata waiting for him. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back.

"YAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAY!!!!!!!!!" Hanabi who was standing nearby just stared at her sister. Hanabi looked at her sister and said, "Hinata, can we talk?" Hinata looked at Hanabi puzzled.

"Sure. Naruto you go on into my room. I'll be there soon." Naruto shrugged and walked to the front of the hall, but stood there. Hinata knew he wouldn't eavesdrop.

"What is it?" Hanabi stared at Naruto.

"Who is that guy."

"Naruto-kun? He's my boyfriend." Hanabi looked shocked.

"B-b-boyfriend? But, he's so…" Hinata stood with her hands on her hips.

"He's so what?" Hanabi blushed like Hinata did.

"Hot…" Hanabi finished. Hinata stared off into space, blinked a few times.

"Okay, I do not want to hear about how my sister thinks my boyfriend is hot. You do know he's five years older than you. Ummmm, well ponder that. Bye!"

**Hinata's POV**

I dragged Naruto into my room where everyone was going crazy. I looked into my closet and frowned. All of my stuff looked huge. I pulled one pair of my old pants down, and held them up to my waist. The pants were at least three sizes too big. I sighed in defeat.

"Ino, Tenten, Sakura?" They all looked up at me. "Are you still the same size as me?" They all nodded. I opened my walk-in closet's doors. "Take what you want." They all stared at me with open mouths. "Apparently, I shrunk two or three sizes. Everything is too big. I guess I will have to ask my dad to order some new kimonos." Ino wasted no time after that.

Soon, each of my friends had two kimonos, four shirts, and two pairs of pants. The rest of my clothes, and there was a lot left, would have to be pulled in. Naruto and I were sitting on the floor watching everyone fight over certain things. Naruto had his arms around me protectively, and we both had our tattoos bare. After all of the clothes they wanted were taken out, I pulled out some ballet clothes. I passed those around.

"We need to practice. I know I missed like two practices, so help me out." I ran out of my room into Neji's room. My cousin had recently moved in to protect me from anymore kidnappings. I came back with a pair of black swimming trunks.

"We have a pool next to the dance studio, the dance studio is enclosed with glass so you can watch if you want, but don't you think swimming would be more fun?" The girls came with me, while Naruto changed in the bathroom and headed for the pool. We were dressed quickly, and started immediately. We stretched first, and I cracked almost every bone in my body. It felt good to be flexible again. Ino and I were the most flexible out of the group with me being slightly lither. I passed around point shoes and regular shoes. I started with the regular shoes on technique. I stretched and then worked my joints. Soon my joints were loose, so I worked on my movements. First I moved fluidly and flowingly. Then I moved on to quick movements. After that I moved to sharp light movements. I enjoyed that the most, because I felt like I was walking on water.

**NORMAL POV**

Naruto watched Hinata dance. He could tell what type of exercise the girls were doing by watching her movements. The sharp way her limbs moved astounded him. She looked so perfect that she could have been mistaken for and android. Her face looked so serene and he soon found himself treading water and just watching. Finally the warm-ups ended and music began to play. Hinata moved fluidly to the music and Naruto just watched.

Finally, after and hour, the girls stopped and went out to the pool. They changed in the bathroom and came into the pool. Sakura and Ino both had on tiny bikinis, while Hinata came out in a dark blue swimsuit. Her body was slender. She still had the figure of a young girl, and was not developing as quickly as Ino and Sakura, but she was well proportioned. Ino and Sakura jumped into the water screaming while Hinata slipped in quietly with not a single ripple. Tenten changed into a bikini top shorts combo and decided to suntan.

Hinata hid all but her head under water. They all decided to play Marco Polo in the pool. After a while, everyone got tired of that because Hinata always won. She could sense the movement in the water and was able to sneak up on people. They all resorted to sun tanning, except for Hinata. Hinata just wanted to hide in the water. Hinata started to get really bored, and decided to play a dolphin. She managed to jump out of the water and back in with a constant spray of water supporting her. She twisted and turned in the air.

Finally, it started to get really dark so everyone went inside. The girls took turns in the shower, and Naruto went in last. After that, everyone just scattered.

**HINATA'S POV**

I woke up early in the morning and stretched. Today I was going to train with Hanabi. It was the last week of summer, and we would be taking the entrance exams to get into the academy next week. We did not become real ninjas until we took this exam, so everyone was pumped up. I had been winning my spars with Hanabi lately, and though I did not gloat, it felt good. Hanabi put up a fight that morning, but I had to hang out with Naruto, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten.

"Bye Hanabi!" I had taken a shower and was grabbing my light jacket.

"Are you going to go meet Naruto and the others?" I blushed.

"Yes." Hanabi looked bitter.

"Have fun." Ever since Hanabi had first seen Naruto she had developed a bit of a crush on him, and I always felt bad when I went out with him. I ran out of there and joined my friends in the out door market.

"Are you guy's ready for the Ninja exams?" Everyone nodded.

"Good. I'm kinda nervous, but with all of the fighting we've done together, I'm sure we will do just fine. On our way through, I saw a nice little jewelry stand. I say a set of matching ring bands in the box. They were made out of pure gold, and were expensive. To my embarrassment, it was only half of my pocket money. I told my friends to go on without me. I gave them an excuse about wanting to play with the turtles.

Naruto gave me a cheeky, suspicious look; I just stuck my tongue out at him. The girls dragged him away and I turned to the jeweler.

"Can I have a opal put into the male-style ring and a sapphire put into the female ring?" The jeweler nodded. I handed him the money, asked when I had to come and pick them up, and ran to catch up with my friends.

The day of the ninja exams, I gave Naruto his ring. He looked at it with shock for a second. Then he slipped it on. He looked at his hand as if mesmerized.

"The opal looks like your eyes." I smiled and held up my ring.

"And the sapphire looks like yours." He smiled brightly and hugged me tightly.

"Once again, your present killed mine." He pulled out a small box with a ribbon around it. Inside the box was a bracelet with an engraved plate.

'I love you Hina-chan!' I felt tears start to well up in my eyes. My head tilted down and one by one the tears dripped out. No one had ever told me they loved me since my mother left.

"What's wrong Hina-chan? You don't like it?" I shook my head immediately.

"No, I love it. Thank you so much Naruto." I slipped the bracelet on around my wrist.

"Thank You Naruto." I wiped the tears away and smiled.

"Let's go pass that exam."

Inside of the gates, we met Ino, Sakura, and Tenten. They were standing with Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji, Sai and Sasuke. I was shocked to see that with them were a few other people. They seemed to be exchange ninja students from ally villages. There was a girl with dark blonde hair, my cousin Neji, a boy with purple paint on his face, and a scary looking boy who simply stared. I felt danger coming from the boy that did not blinked but I greeted him anyway. There was also on girl who looked like a bit of an outsider. She immediately started gossiping the second Naruto and I got there.

"Oh my gosh. Do you know who that is! It's Gaara of the sand. He supposedly has an evil monster sealed inside of him." She was cut off by Tenten.

"Kin will you just shut up!" The girl stopped momentarily, but just kept on going afterward.

"I wonder if he's evil too. He looks so scary. I hope he doesn't kill me. Mmmmhmmmmmhmhm." I had enough of her blabber. She had a sturdy blue block in her mouth.

"Are you done?" She nodded her head.

"Good, you were giving me a headache." I turned to Gaara. He looked so sad and embarrassed. His head was bent and he was slouching.

"Hey, chin-up." I pulled his chin out with my fingers. Sand shot out at me, but I blocked it with my shield. Gaara blushed red.

"It'll be alright. Welcome to Konoha." Our group was silent for a few seconds. For once, Sasuke spoke first.

"Remind me never to make you mad." With that, everyone laughed and I churned a bright cherry red. The bell rang and the exams began.

Right after everyone was seated, the fights were announced. Out of my class only my friends and I had graduated this year with enough credits to take the exam.

First up were Naruto and the boy with purple paint on his face, Kankuro. Before the fight started, Naruto and Kankuro seemed to be having a conversation. A conversation that was giving Kankuro a laugh and making Naruto angry. Kyuubi would never help Naruto in a honest fight like this, so I knew Kankuro would be alright. The fight began, and Naruto charged in head first.

**Before the Battle Normal POV**

"So, Naruto is it. I saw your girlfriend, she's pretty hot." Naruto immediately was upset.

"Don't look at my girlfriend like that. Emphasis on the MY." Naruto was practically growling.

"Well, I just thought we could share her." He was getting cocky. He thought he could beat Naruto and that was what he was going to try to do.

"That is so gross. My Hina-chan would never do something so low." Kankuro was watching the clock. 'Good ten seconds until the start of the fight.'

"Then why was she in my room last night." The bell rang and Naruto dove at Kankuro. Kankuro barely dodged.

'Maybe I made him too angry." After about five minutes, Kankuro was a bruised smear on the floor.

"Don't ever talk about my girlfriend like that again." Naruto just walked away to find Hinata.

**Hinata's POV**

I thought the fight was over quickly. I looked up at the screen and realized that my fight was next. I was against, Temari? I stepped out into the arena to find the girl with the dirty blonde hair.

"So you're Hinata, huh? Your boyfriend just beat my brother to a bloody pulp. I hope you don't mind, but I am going to beat your little mouse behind into the dust." My fear ebbed and I took the Jyuuken stance.

"Well, good luck." I bowed my head and the bell rang. Temari came at me slowly. I blocked each of her punches. After a while, I finally threw a punch that grazed her cheek with my nail. My nail left a bleeding cut on her cheek. I didn't understand what happened next, but her pupils dilated, and she looked fierce. She came at me with speed that she didn't have before. I decided to study her movements, and learn.

**Normal POV**

Naruto was watching Hinata and Temari fight. When he noticed Temari picked up speed, he got worried that Hinata might lose. The last punch Temari threw hit Hinata square in the jaw. Hinata slid a few feet back. Some people were cheering, and others were pissed. Naruto was one of the ones who were pissed. Hinata stood. Her head was tilted to the ground.

"Is the little mouse going to cry to their rich papa?" To most it looked like Hinata was tearing up, but to Naruto she looked like she was smirking.

Hinata wiped off a bit of blood from her cut lip, and faced Temari. Temari got ready for an attack. Hinata sent out a few chakra spikes. Two cut Temari's arms and Hinata ran at her head first. Everyone thought Hinata had gone crazy.

At first, Temari matched Hinata punch for punch and kick for kick, however, Hinata picked up speed and Temari was blocking less. Finally, Temari couldn't block anything at all. Hinata kicked Temari and she flew back four feet before hitting the ground and sliding. She was out cold. Hinata had won the fight, and her cut lip was only a bit swollen. Hinata walked over and helped the conscious and slightly dazed Temari up.

The rest of the battles went by quickly. The other villages went away, because they were not part of the gennin selection exam. Most of the students traded addresses first. Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke got the most addresses. Hinata and Temari actually became good friends after the fight. The people who had passed to gennin where: Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, Hinata, Neji, Sakura, Tenten, Ino, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino, a girl named Rin, and a boy named Takashi. The second the names were announced, another announcement came around for Naruto and Hinata to report to the Hokage's office.

Upon entering the Hokage's office, they were greeted by Jiraiya and Tsunade. Both of the sannin looked stern. Tsunade had a tinge of sadness on her face.

"We have called you in here to tell you that Naruto will be going away to travel and learn for the next two and a half years. In the meantime, Hinata will stay here and work in the Hospital and going on missions." Hinata's mouth hung open.

"Two and a half years?" Tsunade nodded.

"Very well." Hinata bowed, and dragged Naruto out with her.

"Why did you leave so urgently, Hina-chan?" Hinata had been quiet since they left the office.

"I didn't want Tsunade-sensei to see me cry." After that, Naruto noticed the tears streaming from Hinata's eyes. Naruto hugged her.

"It'll be alright. Two years really isn't that long at all." Hinata wiped away her tears.

"I need to ask you for something." Naruto nodded.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked as Hinata hiccupped.

"If you find anyone out there that you like better than me, please don't hesitate to let me go. I just want you to be happy. However, please tell me if you do find someone else." Naruto knew better than to argue.

"Okay, Hina-chan." Naruto dropped Hinata off at home, and left quickly.

The next morning, when Hinata woke up, Naruto was gone, and the longest two years of her life started.

**ONE YEAR LATER**

Naruto was once again left in the Hotel room. Jiraiya had often left him in the hotel alone, so Naruto had made a few friends. These kids were some of the gangsters of the town. They were not ninjas, but could defend themselves without chakra manipulation as well. The members of this group were two boys named Takano and Takashi and a girl named Ayame. The two boys were just as big as Naruto, and had been on the streets since they were born. Takano had black hair and grey eyes, while Takashi had black eyes and brown hair. They were not muscular, but they were not wimpy either. Ayame was muscular for a girl and also pretty. Her features were rather sharp and feline like. Her eyes were deep brown and she had waist length long brown hair.

Naruto escaped out through the window to his friends who were on the streets below. When he arrived where they were, they seemed like they were being secretive about something, but Naruto didn't ask.

"So, what are we doing today?" The two other boys looked up.

"Why don't we just go hang out at the new restaurant. We've been saving money so that we could buy food there." Naruto nodded, and they headed out. At the restaurant, Naruto sat next to Ayame, while she sat next to the two boys. Suddenly, Takano and Takashi left to go somewhere. Naruto was left there with Ayame. The silence was extremely uncomfortable for Ayame, while Naruto could barely notice the atmosphere.

"Naruto?" Naruto looked at Ayame to show that he was listening.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to tell you that, I like you." Naruto looked shocked. Ayame looked scared, and lost. Naruto finally started to breath again.

"I'm sorry Ayame, but I don't like you like that. I kind of already have a girlfriend." Ayame sighed. Then a thought crossed her mind.

'This other girl might not stand a chance against the bond Naruto and I have. Or my looks and strength.' Ayame was dragged out of her thoughts.

"Can I see a picture of your girlfriend?" Naruto nodded. He pulled out a folded picture from his wallet. Ayame looked at the picture. In it was a pretty, shy looking girl. Her hair was short, and blunt. Naruto was hugging her from behind looking happier than Ayame had ever seen him. The girl looked happy too. She was a very pretty girl. Her skin was light and soft looking, she was well muscled, and Ayame could already see the beginnings of a chest in the young girl.

"How old is this picture?" Naruto looked thoughtful for a second.

"About two and a half years old." Ayame sighed. By now this girl was probably gorgeous and Naruto didn't even know it.

"It's alright Naruto. I think it's best if we go back to being friends. Pretend all of this never happened. Naruto smiled slightly and nodded.

**TWO AND A HALF YEARS AFTER NARUTO LEFT**

Naruto finally entered the gates of Konoha again. He walked around observing everything. He saw Sakura and walked over to say hello.

"Hi Sakura!" Sakura smiled and greeted him as well. In the middle of his conversation, Naruto stopped. He had seen a young girl that had looked like Hinata. He told Sakura he would talk to her later, and followed the dark haired girl. Naruto saw the girl had a baby boy in her arms. The baby had the Hyuuga eyes, and brown hair. Naruto immediately disregarded it as the girl wasn't Hinata. However, when the girl turned to face him, Naruto stood shocked to find out it was Hinata. All he could recognize was her small round nose, and her lavender-white eyes. She had changed a lot. Her eyes had become bigger, her eyelashes were longer, her hair had grown down to her waist, and her lips had a graceful pout on the sides. Her body had also changed. Naruto could not tell to what extent because Hinata was wearing an oversized jacket. She looked so pretty. Naruto could only wonder in terror about why Hinata had a baby. Suddenly, Hinata met Naruto's eyes. Her lips parted in a wide smile. Her eyes lit up and she laughed. It was the same happy laugh that Naruto remembered. Naruto glared at the baby.

"So, who's the father?" At first Hinata looked puzzled. Then she realized what he meant.

"This isn't my baby, silly. He's my little baby cousin." Hinata held the baby up to Naruto. The baby began to cry.

"Awwwww, he doesn't like you." Once the baby was back in Hinata's arms, he stopped crying.

"You're so good with him." Naruto looked at the baby. He held out his arms. Hinata handed him the baby carefully. Instead of crying, the baby snuggled into Naruto's chest and fell asleep.

"I guess he just doesn't like to be held up." Hinata had a giggle fit. "Well, I have to take him back home, but if you come with me we can go out right after. I missed you so much these last two years.

**Hinata's POV**

We walked to my home together in relative silence. On the way, we met Kiba and Shino. They both greeted Naruto enthusiastically and I felt happy for Naruto. At my home, we just dropped off my baby cousin and walked out. As we were a little past the gates, a guard called me back.

"Hinata-sama, your father requests your presence." I felt worried.

"Naruto-kun, you can come in and ask the maids for whatever you want." I walked into my father's office and threw the door gently shut.

"Yes, Father?" He looked stern.

"As you know, I have been looking for a suitable man to become your husband. I have actually gotten twenty offers in the last week from many different rich families." I sat silently waiting for them to finish.

"If I may ask, how old exactly are these "suitors"." My dad looked pained.

"The youngest is forty." I laughed.

"Father, is that not pedophilia?" He scowled. I tried to stop laughing.

"Very well, I would like to see the contract." He brought in a few pages. I looked through them quickly. I took the pen offered to me and scratched the pages across. He looked at me sternly.

"Are you sure about this. This will cause difficulties and you will not inherit clan head if you cannot find a husband in time." I nodded.

"I understand."

"Very well." I bowed and exited the room. Outside, Naruto was standing looking upset.

"Are you really going to go and marry some old pedophile?" I giggled.

"No of course not." I grabbed his hand. I was blushing profusely. "As of right now Naruto-kun, I only like you so I don't see us getting separated anytime soon."

He smiled brightly.

"Okay. Hina-chan, I love you." I felt that for the first time I could actually say it back meaning every word.

"I love you too, Naruto-kun."

**A/N: I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry. I know it has been forever since I last wrote on this. I hope none of you thought I was dead. Anyway, I am working on a new story and the sequel to this one will come out eventually. It took me long to write because I kinda lost interest in this story, but I will pick up soon. See you again later. Please I need more reviews! Thank you! **


End file.
